There are established "ways of doing things" in API design, but they are manifold and conflicting because there are major technical constraints and traditions a

There are established "ways of doing things" in API design, but they are manifold and conflicting because there are major technical constraints and traditions and more importantly vastly different needs. While, for example, graphical techniques to make interactive elements in a GUI stand out from read-only content are partly universal and partly consolidated by tradition, even a noncontroversial principle like providing "apt documentation" is an abstract concept that can have a very different meaning for different people and in different situations.