Toggle is a term used to describe a switch that has two positions—on and off. It’s commonly found on everyday technology like smartphones, tablets, and computer software to allow users to switch between different settings or programs. Toggle switches are useful for updating preferences, setting, or other types of information because they give users a clear way to select one of two opposing states. However, using toggle switches improperly can cause confusion and mislead users.

Some people mistakenly use toggles to represent state changes that occur only once or never (such as downloading content). This can be confusing for users because they expect the switch’s current state to remain unchanged. Additionally, using a toggle to download something without also displaying an icon for “on” or “off” can confuse users because it makes it seem as though the user could have downloaded the content on multiple occasions.

Similarly, it’s important not to put large swaths of code under the control of a single toggle. This can lead to a confused dev team and a nightmare to debug weeks or months down the line when those changes begin to impact other parts of the product.

The best practice is to use a toggle to manage state changes that require only a small change in the program. This can be anything from a simple “if” statement to an entire decision tree based on a variety of variables. It’s also recommended to name these toggles so someone else on the dev team can understand the purpose of a change when they come across it in an error message—for example, naming a toggle “Permission Toggle” will let them know that a specific algorithm is too resource-intensive for their production environment and needs to be disabled for all users.