One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for panning content within a display area presented on a computing device, the method comprising: detecting a user-initiated input applied to a touchscreen interface; receiving actuation information from the touchscreen interface, wherein the actuation information comprises touch locations; ascertaining that the touch locations occurred within a content region of the display area surfaced at the touchscreen interface, wherein the display area is rendered by an application in communication with an operating system of the computing device; identifying the application as supporting scrolling functionality; deriving a gesture from the actuation information that corresponds to the touch locations; recognizing the gesture as a drag operation by disambiguating the drag operation from a tap-type or other operation based on a distance of an uninterrupted drag-movement from an actuation location of the user-initiated input at the touchscreen interface; identifying a principle axis of the drag operation based on an average direction of the uninterrupted drag-movement; panning content within the content region of the display area according to the drag operation if the direction of the uninterrupted drag-movement is substantially parallel to a scrollable direction of the content region, and, otherwise, providing raw inputs associated with the gesture from the touchscreen interface to the application if, during the uninterrupted drag-movement, a threshold distance from the principle axis of the drag-movement is exceeded, wherein providing raw inputs associated with the gesture from the touchscreen interface comprises conveying the user-initiated gesture to the application as mouse messages that are recognizable by touch-naive applications. detecting a user-initiated input applied to a touchscreen interface; receiving actuation information from the touchscreen interface, wherein the actuation information comprises touch locations; ascertaining that the touch locations occurred within a content region of the display area surfaced at the touchscreen interface, wherein the display area is rendered by an application in communication with an operating system of the computing device; identifying the application as supporting scrolling functionality; deriving a gesture from the actuation information that corresponds to the touch locations; recognizing the gesture as a drag operation by disambiguating the drag operation from a tap-type or other operation based on a distance of an uninterrupted drag-movement from an actuation location of the user-initiated input at the touchscreen interface; identifying a principle axis of the drag operation based on an average direction of the uninterrupted drag-movement; panning content within the content region of the display area according to the drag operation if the direction of the uninterrupted drag-movement is substantially parallel to a scrollable direction of the content region, and, otherwise, providing raw inputs associated with the gesture from the touchscreen interface to the application if, during the uninterrupted drag-movement, a threshold distance from the principle axis of the drag-movement is exceeded, wherein providing raw inputs associated with the gesture from the touchscreen interface comprises conveying the user-initiated gesture to the application as mouse messages that are recognizable by touch-naive applications.