Authentication: Don’t be Clever

My contribution to the new API UX blog:

By using standardized, common authentication schemes you can reduce the cognitive overhead for the developer consuming your API and avoid getting into unfamiliar, untested security situations. Authentication is the first thing any developer using your API will have to deal with and it’s those first few moments that are crucial to their success using your API to solve their problem. Take care to make the first impression a good one.