A toggle is a simple user interface element that helps people manage the state of content or a view. The key to successful toggles is clear visual design, direct labels and consistent interaction. Toggles should only be used where users need to update their preferences or settings. If you need to present multiple options or support other types of user action, consider using a different type of user interface component such as a menu or list.
When designing toggles, avoid mixing use of different visual styles or UI patterns. This can create cognitive problems for users. For example, if you use an icon with a solid color for the on position and a solid color for the off position, it can be confusing to users who aren’t familiar with this convention. Additionally, you should be mindful of societal and cultural perceptions around certain colors. For instance, some cultures associate red with stop signs and this could have negative societal implications.
Feature Toggles enable your team to introduce new features without having to create and maintain extensive code branches for each. This is in contrast to more traditional waterfall development models where your team would need to write a whole suite of QA tests and regression checks before a feature was ready to be merged into trunk code.
Toggle configuration can be managed by static files, but this can become cumbersome as the number of toggles grows. To make it easier to manage the growing inventory of toggles many teams opt to move the configuration into some type of centralized store. This is usually accompanied by some form of admin UI that allows your team to view and modify feature flags.
