A toggle is a switch that enables users to rapidly update preferences, settings, and other types of information. It’s a simple user-interface component that can make a big difference on the user experience if implemented well. Toggles should clearly identify the setting, view, or content that they control, deliver immediate results, and be accompanied by label text. They should also be updated visually to communicate their current state—using color, for instance, can help here. It’s important to avoid using toggles in forms or within full pages of information that require a click of the Submit button for changes to take effect.
In software development, a toggle is a switch that enables you to dynamically re-configure specific service instances without having to restart the entire program. This can be useful for things like testing a production environment before rolling it out to a wider audience or for manual exploratory testing and debugging purposes. Toggle configuration is usually stored in some type of centralized store, often an existing application DB. Changing the configuration of an individual toggle is relatively straightforward, but maintaining consistency across a large fleet can be challenging and requires some level of manual oversight.
The term can also be used to refer to physical switches found on hardware devices, such as a keyboard’s Caps Lock and Num Lock keys that allow users to turn on and off specific functions. On a computer or mobile device, you’re likely to see toggles in the options menus of most applications that allow users to adjust settings and features.
A toggle can be used for a variety of purposes in an ecommerce platform, including creating product categories, managing inventory, and creating search filters. It can also be used to manage user accounts and permissions, and to track visitor behavior. It can even be used to implement multivariate or A/B testing, in which different versions of a web page are shown to groups of visitors in order to evaluate which one performs best.
The word toggle is also commonly used to describe a feature or setting that can be changed by the user, such as the default theme of an online application. The ability to change the default theme can be helpful for users who want a lighter or darker interface. It can also be used to create a more responsive design for sites that may need to adapt to different screen sizes.
While toggles can be a powerful tool for updating preferences and other information, they can easily become confusing for users if they aren’t designed effectively. Toggle switches should enforce a mutually exclusive state and be clear about which state they’re in, so that users can tell what the effect will be before they press the toggle. The visual cues you use to communicate this are just as important as the switch itself, so be careful when choosing the right ones for your design. For example, if you’re using a blue toggle, it’s important to consider its contrast with other colors and to evaluate any cultural or societal implications that could be confused with the action being performed.
