Why are there no "standard texts" on designing software interfaces? (or tell me I'm wrong?)
If you want to learn to *build* software, there are excellent and complete texts on the subject. It's not just a tech-vs-art thing: there are standard texts on type, drawing, color, etc.
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Have you seen Usability Enginerring by Neilsen?
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Yes! Lots of useful details on feedback and process, but like About Face, I find it pretty thin on explicit instruction about the actual interface design part.
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Isn’t that the art at that point?
We know UX/HCI patterns
We know about visual center and mathematical center, consistent padding etc
We know about colour wheel and etc
But after that… art?
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We have Interactions of Color to teach us about color, Bringhurst to teach us about type, Nielsen/Cooper to teach us about user-centric process, etc; it's the "we know UX/HCI patterns" bit that's missing a book in this analogy, I think. Maybe the 1987 Apple HIG is closest.
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Replying to @moskov and @JadenGeller
No. I'm fond of it, but it's really not trying to be a comprehensive instructional text, like The Elements of Typographic Style, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, How to Design Programs, etc. I put it in the same category as The Inmates are Running the Asylum.
