With an infinite vector canvas, the ability to move around that canvas as well as to zoom in and out for a more convenient view is very important. Inkscape offers a plethora of ways to pan (scroll) and zoom, enough to satisfy every taste.
Of course, the canvas scrollbars work just fine to scroll the canvas wherever you want to go. However, these scrollbars aren’t all that convenient, so I usually hide them by pressing 
. Instead, what I use most often is middle-drag: Press the middle mouse button on any point of the canvas and drag it in any direction. Middle-drag works in any tool or mode.
Note
If you think your mouse does not have a middle button, try to press (not roll) the wheel that most mice have in between the left and right buttons. In most cases, this wheel can be clicked just as if it were a button. Of course, rotating the wheel also works to scroll the canvas vertically, whereas rotating it with 
scrolls horizontally.
Very often, however, my right hand is on the keyboard instead of the mouse. In that case, the most convenient way to scroll the canvas is by pressing 
. If you press and hold 
, for example, the canvas starts scrolling downwards (i.e., your view starts going up), at first slowly but gradually accelerating. When you get the hang of it, it feels very natural.
Zooming in and out is also easy. With your keyboard, just press the plus 
or minus 
keys to zoom in or out (note that unlike most other programs, these are just plain plus and minus keys, either on the main keyboard or on the keypad; you don’t need to press or 
with either.) With your mouse, middle click to zoom in and -middle click to zoom out. Or, switch to the Zoom tool where you can use regular left click to zoom in, -left click to zoom out, or drag with the left mouse button to zoom into a rectangular area.
For lots more zooming and panning information and tips, jump to 3.8 Basic Zooming.