Chapter 5 General Interaction Techniques

This chapter covers basic interaction techniques, such as navigation, selection, viewing, editing, and creation. Many of these techniques are based on an object-action paradigm in which a user identifies an object and an action to apply to that object. By maintaining these techniques consistently, you enable users to transfer their skills to new tasks.

Where applicable, support the basic interaction techniques for the mouse, keyboard, and pen. When adding or extending these basic techniques, consider how the feature or function can be supported across input devices. Techniques for a particular device need not be identical for all devices. Instead, tailor techniques to optimize the strengths of a particular device. In addition, make it easy for the user to switch between devices so that an interaction started with one device can be completed with another.