A toggle is a control that allows users to select one of two opposing states. It uses a different appearance to indicate each state, and is typically found in the form of a switch or checkbox. Toggles are used to make it easier for people to change settings or preferences, and they are especially well suited on mobile devices where they can take up less space than two radio buttons. Toggles are generally considered a better choice than other controls that use the same visual cues to convey the same information, such as drop-down menus or radio buttons.
Often, designers choose to add colors to toggles to help clarify the information they are trying to communicate. For example, red is often chosen as the default state for toggles that are “on”, while green is usually used for toggles that are “off”. However, this can be problematic for users with certain types of color blindness, which is why it’s important to test your design on a few users from each target audience before launching.
Toggle switches can also be a cognitive burden for users who have difficulty keeping track of the current state of a switch. If a user has to press the toggle switch many times in a row, it can cause confusion as they try to figure out what the current state is. To avoid this, a designer should aim to create a toggle that only has a single, mutually exclusive state.
It is also best to keep the number of toggles in a design as low as possible, and not spread them across multiple pages. This helps reduce the amount of cognitive strain on users, and also makes it easier for developers to maintain consistency throughout the application.
One way to do this is by using Feature Toggles (also known as Canary Releases or Champagne Brunch) instead of traditional toggle switches. A Feature Toggle is an internal property set in a configuration file, or an entry in an external feature flag management service that allows for the incremental release of features to specific cohorts.
Another common method of deploying Feature Toggles is to use a Toggle Router (also known as an Experiment Toggle or A/B Testing). A Toggle Router will consistently send a user down one codepath or another, depending upon the value of their configuration flag. This can be useful when implementing large changes that might impact the entire user base.
In addition to the benefits listed above, toggles can be easily adjusted with advanced options in our Content Toggle Item. These options allow you to customize the positioning, responsiveness, animation & delay, and other settings for your toggle switch. For more information, see the Content Toggle Item documentation.
