Togle: A Switch with Two Options

In computing, toggle is a word that refers to switching between one set of options or preferences and another. This concept is found in many settings and menus across computers.

Toggles are an important user-interface component. They let users update preferences, change settings, and more. Toggles are easy to understand and help ensure consistency throughout your site or app.

Color is an important visual signifier for toggles; use high-contrast colors to signal state change, and avoid using low-contrast colors that are counterintuitive. State descriptors such as “on” and “off” are also helpful.

Labels for Toggles are very important, and should describe what the control will do when it is on. They should be direct, standard, and clear.

The label should be clear and concise, and be written in a way that is easy to read. If a label does not make sense, change it.

When testing, it is important to test both the current production toggle configuration as well as any toggles that you plan to release flipped On. This will help prevent surprise regressions from occurring in a future release.

Feature Toggles can be quite dynamic and it’s very easy to make changes to their configuration without affecting live service deployments. However, it’s important to be aware of the risks associated with changing toggle configuration at runtime. Ideally this should be handled by some form of runtime re-configuration mechanism. This can either be a centralized endpoint or a set of reusable UIs for re-configuration that can be easily applied to multiple toggles.