1. 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 the touchscreen interface; receiving actuation information from the touchscreen interface, wherein the touchscreen information comprises touch locations; ascertaining that the touch location 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 touchscreen 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 and a direction of an uninterrupted drag-movement from the actuation location of the user-initiated input at the touchscreen interface; based on the scrolling functionality, panning the content within the content region of the display area according to the drag operation or generating normal mouse messages.