A toggle is a button, lever, or switch that can move between two different states. It’s often used to turn on or off software functions. It’s also used in hardware to switch between different functions, such as the Caps Lock and Num Lock keys on keyboards. In UI design, toggles are often seen in options menus on computer programs or in mobile applications.
Feature toggles allow your product team to experiment with new features with a subset of users before rolling them out to your entire user base. They can also act as circuit breakers in your application, preventing a bug from spreading to a larger population.
They’re easy to implement. Toggles require little coding and can be implemented using standard HTML tags. They’re also easy to update, as the current state is displayed in the label. This makes them an ideal control for changing settings that have default values, such as email notifications.
When creating a toggle, it’s important to consider the psychology behind it. Users must be able to easily understand the current state of a toggle. Otherwise, they may be confused about what is actually happening. The most effective toggles use clear labels and visual signifiers to signal their state, such as the word On or Off. Toggle buttons also need to have high contrast to avoid confusion, and designers should consider societal or cultural differences when choosing colors for these signifiers.
In addition, it’s important to note that toggle switches should only be used as a control when the current state is obvious to the user for other reasons. In cases where a toggle is necessary, the choice of control should be carefully considered, and other solutions, such as checkboxes or radio buttons, may be better for the situation.
Toggles have cognitive problems, but they’re still useful for some situations. To overcome them, it’s helpful to add context or other hints to the toggle to help the user interpret its current state. For example, you can use text or an icon to indicate the current state of the toggle. You can also use an indicator color to signal the current status.
Despite their limitations, toggles can be an important tool in your product development arsenal. They’re simple to create, flexible, and can be used to test a feature with your audience before introducing it to the full population.
If you’re planning on using toggles in your product, be sure to set a date to retire them at the end of their lifecycle. This way, you or a future product manager will be aware of their presence and can make plans to remove them when the time comes. Ideally, this will be done in conjunction with a counter feature that can be turned on to replace the toggle. This will prevent your product from becoming overloaded with toggles that don’t provide value to your audience.
