A toggle is a switch that lets users manage the state of something, usually content. It can also be a user-interface component, such as a checkbox or radio button. Regardless of whether a toggle is used to display or hide content, it must be easy for users to understand its current state. To help them, toggle switches should be labelled clearly and use standard visual design. They should also be accessible to users with disabilities. For example, avoid relying solely on color for toggle states and instead, consider using a clear and consistent visual cue, such as the movement of a slider. Toggle switches are used by e-commerce websites, social media sites and other online services to provide features to paying subscribers. They are also a popular tool for conducting experiments and testing new software features in the wild. Feature toggles enable teams to release code without impacting the entire user base, reducing risk and allowing developers to gather data on how a change affects the product.
A toggle may be triggered to show or hide content by a user action, a timer, an event in the system, a fitness test result or any other condition. These conditions can vary from simple “if statements” to multi-conditional decision trees that act upon a number of variables. Feature toggles are often used in conjunction with other tools, such as test suites, to create a more complex and accurate picture of how a code change will behave in production.
Feature toggles are a critical part of continuous deployment, enabling dev teams to release code for a small percentage of the user base before it is merged into the main line of production. For example, when a company releases a redesigned news feed they first roll it out to a small group of users and monitor the performance before rolling out the change to everyone else. Facebook and Etsy are two well-known companies that use Feature Toggles to implement continuous delivery.
Toggle switches are one of the most user-friendly ways to expose new software functionality to users. They can be applied to all types of content, ranging from settings to interactive maps and maps of user data. They can even be used to disable premium features in the case of a paid subscription.
As with all user interface components, care must be taken to ensure that toggles are consistent across the entire application. This requires maintaining a design style, ensuring the correct use of color, and evaluating any societal or cultural implications of the toggle’s default and active states. For example, if you use a red toggle to indicate an on position it could be counterintuitive for users from countries that associate red with stop signs and traffic signals. Ideally, toggles should have clear visual cues that communicate the state to the user and should always be accompanied by an action that can be performed. This makes them a perfect alternative to traditional radio buttons and checkboxes, which require multiple clicks to perform the same function.
