Toggle is a digital trade journal that highlights the critical role technology plays in business and the men and women who make it work. From data privacy and cybersecurity to cloud solutions and emerging applications, we examine the unique challenges that today’s CIOs and CTOs face in a constantly changing landscape.

In some cases, the use of toggles is not appropriate or can be confusing to users. For example, if a toggle switch is used to download content it can mislead users because turning the switch off does not undownload the content. In such cases, it is better to use checkboxes or radio buttons that do not rely on color alone to convey status and can be clearly differentiated by shape.

Another way toggles can cause confusion is when they are not properly configured. For example, when using details> or summary> tags with a toggle the answer should be visible by default and the user should have to select an option to hide the answer. To avoid confusion always display the default state and provide a clear explanation of what needs to be selected.

When configured properly, however, toggles are a useful tool for developers to implement. Feature toggles, for instance, allow teams to test new features in a more controlled environment before integrating them into trunk code. For example, Facebook uses a large number of feature toggles to test out changes before rolling them out to their entire user base. These types of tests would normally be conducted on separate code branches, but with feature toggles the team can test a change to the main codebase while still maintaining their release deadlines.