Toggle is a digital trade journal highlighting the vital role that technology plays in companies and organizations across the industry spectrum—and the men and women who make it work. Our articles give readers an inside look at the strategies these leaders use to tackle everything from data privacy and cybersecurity, to cloud solutions and emerging applications like artificial intelligence and machine learning.

A toggle is a control that allows users to change the state of system functionality (either ON or OFF). They’re typically used on mobile devices, where they take less space than a radio button and don’t come with a default value. While they can be used for a variety of functions, toggles are most effective when used to update preferences, settings, or other types of information that can be changed in a single operation.

When using toggles it’s important to consider accessibility issues. They’re generally inaccessible to screen readers and other assistive technologies, which makes it hard for them to determine the current state of a toggle (even if it’s clear from the icon itself). Additionally, toggle switches that rely on color to convey their state can be confusing for users with red/green color blindness, or other types of visual impairments.

Managing feature toggles can also be challenging at scale, particularly in a shared environment. Savvy teams view them as inventory that comes with a carrying cost, and seek to keep their toggle count low by proactively removing toggles that are no longer required. This can be facilitated by moving toggle configuration out of static files and into some type of centralized repository.