Steering Law

A predictive model of human movement describing the time required to navigate a cursor through a constrained path, such as a tunnel or curved corridor on screen. Proposed by Accot and Zhai as an extension of Fitts's Law, the Steering Law accounts for tasks where the user must stay within boundaries while moving, rather than simply reaching a target. In accessibility, the Steering Law is relevant to evaluating the difficulty of navigating nested menus, scrollbars, and other constrained interface elements, particularly for users with motor impairments who may struggle to maintain precise cursor trajectories.