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How to Design Feature Toggle Toggles Slot Machines

Toggle is a type of control that can be used to select between two opposing states, such as “on” and “off”. Toggles can be found in everyday technology devices such as mobile phones, digital TVs, and other software applications. They are a commonly used UI component and provide an easy way to update preferences, settings, and other kinds of configuration.

Toggles are a very useful tool, and in the right context can make for some really great user interfaces. However, it is important to remember that toggles have some drawbacks that must be taken into account when implementing them in web and mobile apps.

First and foremost it’s important to be aware of the cognitive cost associated with using toggles. They force the user to choose between two mutually exclusive options, which can be very confusing for some users. This is especially true for users who are not familiar with toggles, and it can lead to them selecting the wrong state for an action or accidentally clicking on the same switch again and again.

Another issue is that in order to test a toggle switch the developer must either manually modify static files or deploy an artifact which includes dynamic in-memory re-configuration (as discussed in the Toggle Configuration section above). This can significantly impact the cycle time of your testing process and may even cause your builds to break.

While this is an important consideration it can sometimes be impossible to avoid in certain situations such as Ops Toggles where the toggle is configured via a dynamic script. For these situations the use of a feature flag management platform like Kameleon can be a very effective solution.