A Toggle is a control that allows users to update preferences, settings, and other types of information. When used correctly, toggles are a useful way to provide control and feedback for users. However, when toggles are misused they can create confusion for users and degrade user experience. To avoid these pitfalls, make sure to use toggles only when they can be clearly understood as providing immediate results and that the label conveys exactly what will happen when the switch is set on or off.
For example, using a toggle switch as an download button can mislead users because downloading is usually a one-time action that does not have an ongoing impact. A toggle should only be used when the switch’s state will influence the behavior of an app or website. In this case, a more appropriate markup would be a button with the aria-pressed attribute which can communicate to users what will happen when they press it.
Another common mistake is to rely on color alone to indicate the toggle’s state. This can be confusing for users because it requires them to compare two different colors and determine if the difference is enough to mean the switch has changed states. Additionally, color can have societal and cultural implications for users which should be considered. It is best to use a more pronounced and saturated color for the active state, whereas a lighter shade should be used for the inactive state.
Toggles should also be well-named to make it easy for developers to understand what they do. This practice may seem obvious, but many teams forget to give their toggles meaningful names that someone else on the team can read in error messages or code reviews. This simple step can reduce the risk of confusion for other developers and prevent rework down the road.
The last best practice when working with feature flags is to avoid overusing them. It’s tempting to apply a toggle to every possible scenario, but that can lead to complex, nested configurations which are difficult to manage. In addition, if you use a feature flag in production it can impact the CI/CD pipeline and delay the feedback loop for validating changes.
Managing feature flags can be a significant burden for any team. Savvy teams recognize that toggles come with a carrying cost in the codebase and strive to keep their inventory low. Additionally, they create processes for removing the old toggles once their lifecycle is complete. This can be as simple as adding a cleanup task to the team’s backlog or as sophisticated as creating “expiration dates” for the toggle which will fail a test (or even refuse to run the application) once it hits an expiration date.
Toggle switches are a useful tool for allowing teams to quickly test and deploy new features. They can be an effective part of a feedback-driven development process, but only when they are used responsibly and with clear intentions.
