A toggle is a switch that turns something on and off. It is commonly found in technology devices such as phones and tablets, but is also used within software applications to turn different modes on or off.

When using toggles to control features in your application, you will want to use a clear and consistent language when explaining what the toggle does. Oftentimes, the toggle label will be the only text that a user will see when they click it. This is why it’s important to make sure the toggle label clearly explains what the feature does and if there are any additional conditions that must be met for it to work properly.

The word toggle is also an adjective, meaning “something that can be flipped on and off” or “a device with a toggle.” Toggle switches are common in everyday technology devices such as phones and tablets, but can be found in many other types of hardware and software.

Managing the configuration of your toggles can be done with a variety of methods ranging from simple static files to more advanced feature flag systems. Ultimately the choice of method will depend on the scale at which you’re managing toggles and your comfort level with changing that configuration in production.

In most cases it’s best to stick to a convention for toggle semantics where existing or legacy behavior is enabled when the toggle is Off and new or future functionality is enabled when the toggle is On. This will prevent your toggles from accidentally becoming deprecated and help reduce the risk of unexpected regressions in your production code. It’s also wise to test your toggles with all of the configurations that you expect to release flipped On, as well as a fallback configuration where the toggles that you plan to release are flipped Off. This will give you confidence that any changes you make won’t break your existing functionality.

A simple way to manage the configuration of your toggles is to comment out the code that will change its state. This can be accomplished by using the preprocessor’s #ifdef feature. However, this method can be cumbersome at larger scales and requires you to be willing to follow a pattern of deployment in order to re-configure your toggles.

For more sophisticated toggle management systems there are plugins that allow for dynamic in-memory re-configuration at runtime. This allows for better flexibility when testing and CI/CD processes.

Toggle switches are a useful tool for controlling features in your applications. However, they can be confusing to users if not implemented correctly. When designing your toggles, keep in mind that colors are a key indicator of state and that it’s important to choose high-contrast color tones that are easy to read. Also be sure to consider the societal and cultural implications of your toggle color choices, especially when selecting the colors for the on and off states. Also, remember to always include the toggle label in a prominent place so that it is clear what is being enabled or disabled when the toggle is pressed.