A toggle (also toggle switch, on/off switch) is a button or control that allows users to select between two different states or options. It’s commonly used in technology, computing, programming and communications to provide easy switching between different settings.
Using a toggle is very common in User Interfaces, especially when implementing a feature. Often, the toggle is a simple slider that lets a user easily change the state of an application or website without requiring them to open the settings menu and navigate through complex menus. Toggle switches can also be found in hardware such as light bulbs and household appliances.
The word toggle comes from the 18th century, where it originally meant a pin passed through the eye of a rope to fasten it in place. Toggle has since come to refer to a number of different things, including the on/off command on a computer keyboard or the caps lock key.
Toggle is used as a verb as well: “to toggle something” means to move it from one state to another, as you might do with an electrical switch or the toggle on a door handle. It’s an important concept to understand if you’re working on a design that needs to work with dynamic states.
Feature Toggles are configuration options that can be set on the server to control which features are enabled for specific environments and users. The goal is to enable more advanced features and reduce friction for users, while providing more flexibility to developers and testers. This is achieved by storing the toggle as a variable that can be switched between two states, typically boolean values. When the toggle is active it changes to the “On” state, and when it’s inactive, it switches to the “Off” state.
Toggles are a powerful tool, and a key part of any UX arsenal. However, they are not without their drawbacks and challenges. In addition to their complexity, if they are not properly implemented they can become cognitively confusing for users. In order to avoid this, designers should make sure that toggles are always labeled clearly, use visual cues like movement and color to indicate their current state, and ensure that toggles are not re-labeled (this is known as the “shylock effect”).
Another challenge with toggles is making them accessible. Many Web developers and designers don’t take accessibility into account when implementing them, which can cause problems for users with disabilities. For example, some screen readers rely on the color of toggles to convey their state, and this can be very difficult for those with red/green color blindness.
Another challenge with toggles is that they are difficult to manage on large scales. For this reason, many teams prefer to move their toggle configuration into some type of centralized store, usually an existing application DB. This approach is paired with the build-out of some form of admin UI to allow system operators, testers and product managers to view and modify their toggle configurations.
