What Is a Toggle?

The Toggle is a visual indicator that lets users quickly and easily see whether a feature is on or off. It’s a common element found in options menus and most types of user controls. When a toggle is pressed it can switch between two or more settings.

For example, if you video chat with two friends at the same time you are toggling back and forth between them as each screen appears and disappears on the screen. Toggle also has the same meaning when you change between two screens on your laptop as you use one to view your notes and the other to type.

It is important to always use high-contrast colors when designing toggles. Low-contrast colors can make it difficult for users to understand whether a toggle is in the on or off position. Additionally, designers should be aware of societal and cultural implications when choosing the color for a toggle and should consider adding a description of what the toggle represents to avoid confusion and ambiguity.

A toggle can also be used in software to implement features flags which enable or disable certain functionality. This is commonly seen in the form of checkboxes or radio buttons. It is a good practice to use toggles in your software when implementing features flags so that the toggles are clear and easy to understand for both developers and users.

It is wise to test with the toggle configuration you expect to be live in production flipped On. Many teams also test with the fallback toggle configuration, if there is one, flipped Off to ensure that there won’t be any unexpected regressions in future releases.