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.
Conversation
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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Yeah, neilsen covers a few UX/HCI patterns but then you need to go to documents like the HIG to get the patterns for the particular software, like iOS or macOS.
Things like websites and games we tend to do organically with patterns, any textbook on this would date quick right?
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I think there's valuable room for detailed discussion of patterns which can be found in common across many platforms.
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Can you give examples of what you’d cover?
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e.g. case studies of how the notion of a "document" and its various administrative affordances might be represented in various contexts, with various priorities, illustrating various trade-offs
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“Refactoring UI” is a popular web design how-to book with mini case studies illustrating trade-offs, written by the creator of Tailwind CSS:
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Yes, it's pretty good! But it's much shallower than e.g. HtDP or Bringhurst in those fields. Hoping for something more comprehensive.