Selection (user interface)

In computing and user interface engineering, a selection is a list of items on which user operations will take place. The user typically adds items to the list manually, although the computer may create a selection automatically. A precision pointing device (mouse or touchpad and cursor, stylus) or by hand on a touchscreen device is used to enact a selection. The simultaneous selection of a group of items is called a multiple selection.

• Text selection is associated with the cut, copy and paste operations and done with a cursor, caret navigation or touch.
• Image editing applications can feature specialized graphical tools for the selection and modification of areas and shapes or to interact with colours, such as the magic wand selection tool, the lasso selection tool or the color picker. The border of a selected area in an image is often animated with the marching ants effect to help the user to distinguish the selection border from the image background.
• Video editing programs may utilise dynamic controls and advanced digital effects on the selected region.
• Files and other interface components can be selected and used with the advent of GUIs.

Context menus will usually include actions related to the objects included in the current selection - the selection provides the "context" for the menu.

Simultaneous editing

Simultaneous editing is a technique in End-user development research to edit all items in a multiple selection. It allows the user to manipulate all the selected items at once through direct manipulation. The Lapis text editor, the multiple selection feature in Sublime Text and Mozilla's Firefox developer tools, and the multi edit plugin for gedit are examples of this technique. The Lapis editor can also create an automatic multiple selection based on an example item.

The term simultaneous editing is also used to describe collaborative editing in collaborative real-time editors.