Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
154 results found in interaction design.
- Sensory Substitution (Cross-Modal Substitution)
- The use of one sensory modality to convey information typically perceived through another. For example, converting visual information into tactile or auditory signals for blind users, or representing …
- Sequential Presentation (Step-by-Step Presentation, Progressive Disclosure)
- An information delivery method that reveals content incrementally in a structured sequence rather than presenting it all at once. In accessible education, sequential presentation is particularly effec…
- Shared Control (Collaborative Control, Shared Autonomy)
- An assistive technology design approach in which control over a system is dynamically distributed between a user with a disability and an assistant (human or automated), allowing each party to manage …
- Slide Rule
- A pioneering touch-based screen reader interaction technique for mobile devices, developed by Kane et al. in 2008, that makes touchscreen content accessible to blind users through finger-driven explor…
- Spatial Scene Reading (Direct Touch Scene Reading)
- A mode of scene reading interaction where users continuously drag their finger across a touchscreen to freely explore a virtual environment, with objects identified and announced as the finger passes …
- Split-Tap Gesture (Split Tap)
- A two-finger touchscreen gesture where one finger holds position on an object while a second finger taps elsewhere on the screen to activate or select it. Originally developed for the Slide Rule scree…
- Steady Tapping
- The ability to place a finger on a touchscreen target and hold it still long enough for the system to register a deliberate tap, as opposed to the unintentional movements caused by hand tremor. For us…
- Stepwise pointing (Recursive target acquisition, Tile-based pointing)
- A mouse emulation technique in which the screen is divided into a grid of tiles, the user selects a tile to zoom into it, the tile subdivides into smaller subtiles, and this process repeats until the …
- Structural Abstraction (Formula Abstraction, Expression Collapsing)
- Structural abstraction is an accessibility technique that simplifies complex visual structures — particularly mathematical formulas — by initially collapsing sub-expressions into symbolic summaries an…
- Structural Navigation (Structure-Based Navigation)
- A mode of screen reader navigation that allows users to move through content based on its logical or semantic structure rather than reading linearly from beginning to end. In web content, structural n…
- Support Indicator (Agreement Indicator)
- A visual or textual cue that communicates the degree of agreement across multiple AI model responses for a particular claim. Support indicators help BLV users assess claim reliability by showing how m…
- Tactile Exploration (Haptic Exploration, Touch-Based Exploration)
- The process of perceiving and understanding objects, surfaces, or spatial layouts through systematic touch. For blind and low vision users, tactile exploration is a primary means of gathering spatial …
- Tactile User Interface (Tactile UI, TUI)
- A user interface designed to be operated and understood through the sense of touch, enabling interaction for blind and low vision users. Tactile user interfaces may include physical buttons with tacti…
- Tangible Technology (Tangible Interface, Tangible User Interface, TUI)
- Technology that connects physical objects to digital systems, allowing users to interact with computing through touching, manipulating, and moving real-world objects rather than through screens or key…
- Tangible User Interface (TUI, Physical Interface)
- An interface in which users interact with digital information through physical objects and surfaces in the real world. Tangible user interfaces bridge the gap between digital and physical by giving di…
- Tap-to-Hear (Point-to-Hear, Tap-to-Listen, Point-and-Click Exploration)
- An interaction paradigm used in tactile graphic readers and touch-based accessibility tools where users touch or tap on elements of a tactile graphic to trigger spoken audio descriptions of the elemen…
- Target Expansion (Expanding Targets, Dynamic Target Sizing)
- An interaction technique where clickable interface elements dynamically grow in size as the cursor approaches, making them easier to select while conserving screen space when not being targeted. Resea…
- Target acquisition (Target selection, Pointing task)
- The process of moving a pointer or input device to a specific on-screen element and selecting it, such as tapping an icon, clicking a button, or choosing a menu item. Target acquisition is a fundament…
- Teleportation (VR Teleportation)
- A VR locomotion method where users point to a destination in the virtual environment and are instantly transported there, bypassing the need for physical movement or continuous virtual walking. Telepo…
- Tile-Based Interface (Tile-Based Interaction)
- An interaction paradigm that represents spatial content as a grid of discrete, navigable tiles rather than a continuous coordinate plane. In accessible design contexts, tile-based interfaces provide b…