Toggle is a term used in everyday technology, computing, programming, and user interfaces to switch between two different states or options. Toggles are similar to sliders and use visual cues, like movement and color, to avoid confusion.
In responsive web design toggles can be implemented to hide or display components based on screen size and device type. They are a great way to provide users with a more customizable experience.
Some of the most popular uses for toggles include setting preferences and hiding sent messages, as well as enabling or disabling specific features like video playback or photo editing. Additionally, toggles are commonly used in social media and other software applications to change features based on user input.
Toggles are a powerful tool but it’s important to use them wisely. It’s easy to overdo toggling and end up with a long list of feature flags in your codebase. This can be confusing for the rest of your team and lead to debugging nightmares weeks or months down the road.
Some of the best practices for working with toggles are to name them clearly and to keep them as short as possible. It’s also a good idea to limit the number of toggles in your application and to ensure that they’re confined to a single scope (e.g. a specific permission). Savvy teams consider Feature Toggles to be inventory that comes with a carrying cost and will often create a task to remove them from the backlog when they’re no longer needed. Some teams even go so far as to set expiration dates on their toggles!
