Toggle is a term used in everyday technology and computing to describe a switch between two states or options. It can also be used to describe a feature within software that is enabled or disabled by a user action. Examples of toggles can be found in many types of everyday devices from computers to mobile phones. Often in software applications toggles are implemented as buttons or switches that are turned on or off. In more traditional software development models features are usually written on code branches and must go through a lengthy testing and QA process before being released to users. With newer agile approaches however, software can be released while features are still in progress. These new features can be hidden behind toggles until they are ready for release, market testing, or other next steps.
In web design and frontend development, toggles can be useful tools for creating more readable and responsive pages. They can help to minimize scrolling and allow visitors to easily find what they’re looking for. They can also be used to create a more structured page layout such as an accordion or a table of contents.
Using toggles effectively requires careful planning and consideration. Toggle settings should always have a clear label and be easy to understand. Using high-contrast colors to signal the toggle state is important to ensure that users can see the current state of the setting. It’s also important to consider societal and cultural norms when determining which colors should be used for on/off state indicators. For example, red can be a confusing indicator for users who associate it with stop signs and stop lights. Using color is not the only way to convey state but should be supplemented by other visual cues like movement and/or animation.
When creating new toggles it’s also essential to test the expected production toggle configurations. It’s best to do this by testing the current production toggle configuration with all toggles flipped On and then subsequently testing the fallback toggle configuration with all toggles flipped Off. This will ensure that there is no regression in the event that a toggle is accidentally flipped back to Off in production.
Finally, it’s important to maintain a manageable inventory of toggles and to prune them once their lifecycle has expired. Leaving idle toggles in production can increase maintenance and security costs for your organization. To avoid this, you should have a process in place to vet whether a toggle is necessary for a particular problem and deploy it strategically. Additionally, you should be sure to regularly review your toggles and update them as needed.
