A toggle is a switch that has two outcomes: on or off. A toggle is commonly used in computing when there are options or preferences that can be either on or off (such as airplane mode). Typically, toggles are easier to use than radio buttons and take up less screen real estate.
The word toggle has a number of synonyms, including toggled, toggled up, and toggled. In computer science, a toggle is a software switch that can be in one of two states, i.e., on or off. It is the preferred switch for changing system settings or preferences, as opposed to using radio buttons, which are better suited for yes/no choices.
Toggles are particularly easy to use on mobile devices because they don’t require the user to click a save or confirm button for changes to take effect. However, they’re not ideal for forms with a long list of options where it would be difficult to provide immediate results to the user. In these cases, it’s usually better to replace a toggle with a checkbox instead.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that a toggle has to be clear to the user about what will happen when it’s clicked. It’s a good idea to have descriptive labels on the toggle which describe the option being changed and what state the control is currently in. In addition, it’s a good idea to have some visual clues on the toggle to indicate that it is being pressed or not.
In order to ensure that users can understand how a toggle is configured it’s also a good idea to make sure that the toggle has a clear default value. A toggle with no default value is almost as confusing as a radio button, which is why some designers prefer to avoid it altogether.
Finally, it’s a good idea to test the toggle configurations that are expected to be live in production and to test the fallback configuration which will enable existing or legacy behavior if the toggle is flipped Off. It’s also a good idea to perform some tests with all toggles flipped On in order to prevent any surprises during release testing.
While it’s possible to hardcode toggle configuration in source code, this becomes cumbersome at a certain scale and is difficult to manage consistently. As a result, many teams move their toggle configuration into some type of centralized store which is often an existing application database. This approach is generally accompanied by the build-out of some form of admin UI which makes it easier for developers, testers, and product managers to see how their toggles are configured. This can be done through a variety of different approaches ranging from simple but less dynamic solutions through to more sophisticated (but complex) systems. Toggle Configuration is a key piece of infrastructure which is best suited for deployment and automated testing, not manual exploratory or debugging. However, if the right system is in place it can be a powerful tool for enabling rapid and iterative experimentation with new features and configurations.
