A toggle is a switch or button that can be pressed or clicked to switch between two states or options. They are often used in technology, computing, programming, and communications to allow users to modify settings or features. Toggle switches are simple to use and can have a significant impact on user experience.

In our tests we found that visual cues, such as colors or animations can improve the effectiveness of toggles. Toggle colors should be clearly recognizable to the user and match the toggle’s intended state (on or off). Also, it is important to ensure that all toggles are properly labeled and consistent throughout the interface. Finally, to increase accessibility it is helpful to include a description of the toggle’s state in case the user uses a screen reader.

Toggle configuration can be managed via static files but this approach becomes cumbersome at scale and is difficult to change consistently. To address these issues many teams choose to move toggle configuration into some type of centralized store, most commonly an existing application DB. The move is often accompanied by the build-out of some form of admin UI which allows system operators, testers and product managers to view and modify toggle configuration.

Regardless of where the toggle configuration is stored it is important to test it. The most critical test is to make sure that all the toggles that will be live in production are flipped on and that any toggles that are set to be released are flipped off. It is also a good idea to test the fallback configuration where all toggles are flipped off, this way there is no surprise regression when new or updated features are deployed.

There are a variety of different approaches for managing toggle configuration but all of them require some sort of centralized store. The simplest is to hardcode the configuration within code using the preprocessor’s #ifdef feature. This approach is easy to implement but does not allow dynamic re-configuration of toggles and is only suitable for the most simple of toggles. More sophisticated approaches use some form of centralized store but still require some sort of config management UI which can be difficult to develop and maintain.

In summary, toggles are an important and effective user-interface component but their effectiveness can be greatly diminished by a variety of factors. It is important to provide clear labels, standard visual design and deliver immediate results when using them. In addition, making them accessible to all users should be a top priority. By following these tips, you can ensure that your toggles are effective and user-friendly. Thank you for reading!