Declarative Style Rules for Default Touch Behaviors

In at least some embodiments, a mechanism is provided for web developers to request specific default behaviors, such as touch behaviors, on their webpages. In at least some implementations, a Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) rule is utilized to enable or disable manipulations such as panning, pinch zoom, and double-tap-zoom manipulations. The mechanism can be extensible to accommodate additional default behaviors that are added in the future. In various embodiments, the behaviors are declared upfront and thus differ from solutions which employ an imperative model. The declarative nature of this approach allows achievement of full independence from the main thread and deciding the correct response using independent hit testing.