To understand the Best Developer Dashboard award category we must ask these questions:
- What happens when you register as a user?
- What features do you see?
In this article we will focus on the DevPortal Awards category for Best Developer Dashboard. We will highlight the criteria that we think defines this category and provide examples.
Best Developer Dashboard Category
Devportals that take special care of the “logged-in developer” user journey. These portals provide a dashboard that enhances the developer experience e.g. with metrics, transparent pricing, and an overview of API keys.
In this category, we are looking for the additional resources and experience that developer portals provide for registered and logged in users.
- Registering process, onboarding and support using a Developer Dashboard
- Activity and log overviews on the Developer Dashboard
- Communication and staged data sharing through the Developer Dashboard
Registering process, onboarding and support using a Developer Dashboard
Developer portals can improve the registration experience by adding clear in-between steps that show people what comes immediately next and what they can expect in the long run, for example through personalized notes and emails before and after each completed registration stage.
Developer portals can help the registered user with onboarding when they provide extra features on a dashboard, for example with guides and tutorials, a try-out zone, or a direct link to a community page. The developer portal can provide a sense of security to a user by providing a quick overview of the pricing model or a summary of the legal terms in the early stages of the registered user’s journey.
The Nexmo (Vonage) dashboard provides an overview of available resources (such as links to the documentation, help sections, legal information) in one place. Note: some personal data have been removed from the screenshot.
KPN's API Store gives quick access to a sandbox environment and API documentation.
Overviews on the Developer Dashboard
Almost all devportals provide overviews or logs (with statuses, API keys, filters etc). Some dashboards provide extra data, such as metrics, flows, credits, and activities (with a radio button to switch between weekly and monthly overviews).
Log elements on TomTom's developer dashboard.
Staged data sharing between user and provider
A dashboard can help to stage information sharing:
Some devportals offer many features on their dashboard for free.
A devportal can also work with the reciprocity principle balancing requests for user data by emphasizing pricing models and what extra personal information is needed to enhance user account features.
The examples in this post are taken from some of the previous DevPortal Awards nominees and winners.
The Best Developer Portals Learn more about the award categories for the Developer Portal Awards and how you can submit a nomination.
All Pronovix publications are the fruit of a team effort, enabled by the research and collective knowledge of the entire Pronovix team. Our ideas and experiences are greatly shaped by our clients and the communities we participate in.
About the Author
Kathleen De Roo
Kathleen is an information architect helping clients find out how to align business goals and user needs with the knowledge we gathered about devportals. She grew her expertise through early research on developer portals to determine components, strategy, and best practices for user experience. She holds master's degrees in history and in archival science & records management.
