A toggle is a switch that can be turned on or off, to change from one state to another. Toggles are commonly used in technology, computing, programming, and communication devices. They are also a common way to enable experimentation in software systems.
Feature Toggles are an easy concept at first glance, but there’s a lot more nuance to them than meets the eye. There are many ways to implement them, and they can be used in a variety of different situations.
Toggles can be used to control access to features for premium users. These could include enabling a video transcript of a page or displaying additional content above or below a conversion funnel. Toggles can also be used to disable non-essential features during high latency periods.
When using toggles it’s important to be clear about which side a switch is on and what the state of that switch is currently. This can help to avoid confusion for users. Labels should be short and direct, ideally only using nouns to make it easier for users to understand. They should also clearly describe the effect of turning a toggle on or off.
It’s also best practice to not leave old toggles hanging around in your code base for too long. The longer a toggle is active the more overhead it will add to your production codebase. It’s a good idea to prune old toggles as soon as they have run their course.
