Today, we’re proud to present the brand-new Smartcar documentation center. This new version of our doc center features updated content and a refreshed design, making it easier than ever for developers to integrate and use our API.
Smartcar allows developers to locate, unlock, and retrieve other information from vehicles across brands with a single integration. Our doc center has always been at the center of the user journey, allowing our customers to quickly integrate Smartcar into their products and to efficiently make API requests to cars.
Since our last major doc center revamp about a year ago, our product, as well as our customer base, has evolved and grown. We thought it was time to adapt our developer documentation to those changes by restructuring the content and refreshing the design. Here’s what you will find in this new and improved version of the Smartcar docs.
1. Brand-new content
In terms of content, the old Smartcar doc center was geared primarily towards less experienced developers that integrated with our API for the very first time. For example, our detailed getting started guide set a large focus on the steps of integrating and making your first request to Smartcar.
In this new iteration, we want to not only appeal to first-time customers but also provide in-depth information and guidance for more experienced developers. Our brand-new integration guide is doing exactly that.
📝 Integration guide
The Smartcar integration guide walks you through the steps of integrating the Smartcar API and testing your integration.
Similar to our previous getting started guide, the integration guide is a useful resource for everyone who has no prior knowledge of the Smartcar API. If you are wondering how to integrate the Smartcar Connect flow into your application architecture, how to integrate the Smartcar API into your application backend, or how to make API requests, this guide will tell you how.
But alongside the basics, the integration guide also covers more advanced details, such as how to adapt Smartcar Connect to your application’s use case, how to store and refresh access tokens, and how to test successful API requests as well as errors.
🔊 Language-specific tutorials
In addition to the new integration guide, we also introduced new language-specific tutorials. If you wish to learn more about integrating and making your first request in a specific language or application architecture, this is the right resource for you. We currently offer tutorials in React, iOS, Android, Node.js, Python, and Java. Stay tuned for more to come!
2. Fresh design
As you might have noticed, we recently redesigned the Smartcar dashboard with new colors, fonts, and interactive elements. Those style changes are now also visible in our documentation center. When you read through our new doc center content, keep a lookout for our updated fonts and new teal-colored links, images, banners, and buttons. In addition to those style changes, you’ll notice two major UX improvements.
💻 Updated code blocks
All code blocks now feature updated colors for a fresh and friendly look. We also added new copy buttons that make copying code to your clipboard a breeze. Whenever you view the code in a language other than the pre-set default, Node.js, the language you select will automatically become your default language across all code blocks.
🧭 Improved navigation
To facilitate an easy overview of and navigation through the entire doc center, we introduced a new, secondary navigation bar on the right side of each page. This navigation bar makes it simple for you to know where you are and which other topics will be covered on the page. We also created a unique anchor link for every header so that you can quickly reference a specific part of any page.
Now it’s time for you to give our new documentation center a try. As always, please let me know how you’re liking it and what you’d like us to improve!
