Toggle is a powerful tool for rapidly deploying new features without redeploying the entire application. Feature toggles enable teams to roll out features in stages, test them under real-world conditions and gather data before deciding whether or not to go live with a change.
When designing the interface for your feature toggles, be sure to consider how users will perceive them. Avoid inverting the toggle button and instead rely on visual cues like color changes to indicate state. This way, the toggle is more likely to be perceived as a control rather than an empty container.
It’s also wise to limit the number of active toggles in a given design and to provide meaningful and descriptive labels. This will help users understand which toggle is in the current state, as well as reduce cognitive overload.
Finally, it’s important to always thoroughly test the toggle configurations that you expect to go live in production. This includes testing the toggles you plan to release flipped On and the fallback configuration where those features are flipped Off. In addition, many teams find it helpful to run some tests with all of the toggles flipped Off to avoid any surprises in future releases.
Savvy teams view the inventory of Feature Toggles in their codebase as carrying a cost, so they work diligently to keep that inventory low by proactively removing toggles once their lifecycle runs its course. This may be accomplished by adding a toggle removal task to the team’s backlog or by building a process into their management software.
