Toggle is a button or switch that allows you to toggle between two states or options. It’s commonly used in technology, computing, and programming to make features available or invisible to users based on their current context.
One of the main benefits of using toggles is that they can be switched on and off with a simple click. This is much faster than having to run a full deployment and rollback an entire release when a feature needs to be tested. It also reduces the risk of accidentally breaking a critical path of functionality and allows you to easily roll back the changes to a previous version.
Another reason to use toggles is that they provide a safe way for your engineering team to test new code in a real-world environment without impacting the majority of your user base. For example, you could add a toggle to your application that buckets users into two groups: those who see the new feature and those who don’t. If the new feature is tested successfully with a toggle, it can be rolled out to the entire user population with a single release.
When using toggles, it’s important to keep in mind that they can introduce cognitive problems for users if not implemented correctly. To avoid this, be sure to give each toggle a clear name that makes the current state of the toggle obvious. Also, be sure to use high-contrast colors and evaluate the societal and cultural implications of color usage for your specific audience. Finally, when possible, opt for a long-lived toggle configuration such as a Champagne Brunch rather than a Permission Toggle, where the toggling decision is made on a request-by-request basis.
