Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
31 results found in User Interface.
- Ambient Display (Ambient Interface, Peripheral Display)
- A display or interface that communicates information through subtle environmental changes — such as colour shifts, lighting changes, or gentle sounds — that can be perceived at the periphery of a user…
- Area Pointing (Point and Click, Mouse Pointing)
- Area pointing is the conventional target-acquisition paradigm in graphical user interfaces, in which the user must move a cursor inside a confined two-dimensional target region and then execute a clic…
- Carousel (Image Carousel, Content Carousel, Slider Carousel)
- A UI pattern that displays a rotating series of content items (images, cards, teasers) in a single area, typically navigated by swipe, arrows, or auto-advance. Carousels pose well-known accessibility …
- Command-Line Interface (CLI, Command-Driven Interface, Command Interface)
- A user interface style in which the user types textual commands, usually following a defined syntax, to drive a system. Command-line interfaces are typically fast and powerful for expert users, script…
- Compound Controls (Composite Widgets, Complex Controls)
- User interface components that combine multiple interactive elements into a single logical control, such as a group of radio buttons, a set of checkboxes with a shared label, a combobox (combining a t…
- Cursor Movement (Cursor Navigation, Pointer Movement, Mouse Movement)
- The process of controlling the position of a pointer or cursor on screen using an input device such as a mouse, trackpad, or joystick. Cursor movement efficiency is a key metric in accessibility resea…
- Dialog Interface (Dialogue Interface, Conversational Interface)
- A user interface paradigm in which interaction occurs through a structured exchange of prompts and responses, typically using speech or text. In assistive technology contexts, dialog interfaces presen…
- Eye Cursor (Gaze Cursor)
- A visual indicator displayed on screen that shows where an eye tracking system has determined the user is currently looking. The eye cursor serves the same function as a mouse cursor but is controlled…
- Facial Avatar (Singing head, Talking head avatar)
- A digital, animated representation of a face — typically rendered as a 3D or stylized 2D character from the neck up — driven by audio, video, or data signals to produce expressive facial behavior such…
- Focus and Context (Focus+Context, Detail in Context)
- An information visualization and interaction design principle that simultaneously presents detailed information about a specific item of interest (focus) alongside an overview of the surrounding struc…
- Ghost Cursor (Phantom Cursor, Proxy Cursor)
- A visual indicator displayed on screen that shows a potential cursor position, used in speech-based and alternative cursor movement systems. Multiple ghost cursors can be displayed simultaneously, typ…
- Hamburger Menu (Hamburger Icon, Menu Icon)
- A UI pattern using three stacked horizontal lines (☰) to hide and reveal a primary navigation menu, most commonly on mobile interfaces. Accessibility considerations include the need for an accessible …
- Haptic User Interface (Haptic UI, Haptic Interface)
- A user interface that communicates information through the sense of touch, enabling users to interact with virtual or digital objects by feeling their physical properties such as shape, texture, weigh…
- Icon (Icons, UI Icon)
- A small graphical symbol used in graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to represent an application, file, function, or object. Icons rely on visual recognition rather than text reading, which can be both a…
- Image-Based Interface (Photo-Based Interface, Picture-Based Interface)
- A user interface design approach that uses photographs, icons, or other visual images as the primary means of interaction and identification, minimizing or eliminating the need for text. Image-based i…
- In-situ Highlighting (In-situ Guidance, In-situ Instruction, On-screen Highlighting)
- In-situ highlighting is a tutorial technique that overlays visual indicators directly on the live application interface to show the user exactly where to tap, look, or interact next - rather than desc…
- Interactive Television (iTV, Interactive TV)
- Interactive television (iTV) refers to television systems that allow viewers to interact with content beyond simply watching, through features such as voting on polls, accessing supplemental informati…
- Manipulable UI Component (Interactive UI Component, Actionable UI Element)
- An on-screen user-interface element that can be acted upon by the user — tapped, clicked, toggled, dragged, or typed into — as distinct from purely informational elements such as static text or images…
- Menu Selection (Menu Navigation, Menu Selection Task)
- A fundamental computer interaction task in which a user chooses an option from a set of items presented in a menu structure, typically involving locating the target item, moving the cursor to it, and …
- Menu-Driven Interface (Menu-Based Interface, Menu Selection Interface)
- A user interface style in which the available actions at each point in the interaction are presented to the user as an on-screen list, and the user selects an option by number, letter, keystroke, or p…