A toggle is a switch that has two opposing states: on and off. It can be found on physical switches and in software programs, such as the famous Alt+Tab method of switching between applications while working with multiple computers.
Using toggles is most effective when you have to help people manage the state of a view or piece of content. Toggles are not a good fit for complex, multi-step actions such as selecting from a list of options.
Toggle labels should clearly communicate what the control will do if pressed. It is also important to consider how the toggle will be used by different users. For example, the color green has a distinct meaning to most people, but not all. In addition to the standard color definitions, it’s worth evaluating societal and cultural implications for the use of certain colors for toggle controls.
Many teams find that it is useful to have a centralized, dynamic way of managing toggle configuration at scale. Rather than relying on static files it is common to build out some type of admin UI which allows system operators, testers and product managers to easily view and modify toggle configuration.
For Canary Releases and Champagne Brunch features it’s typically best to test only the toggle configuration that is intended for production, along with the fallback toggle configuration which is flipped Off. This helps to minimize the impact of any accidental regressions that could occur if a team forgets to test with a toggle configured in an unexpected manner.
