A Toggle is a control that allows users to update preferences, settings or other types of information. Toggles work well when the underlying change requires an immediate effect and is not dependent on another input such as Save or Submit. However, if users are not aware of the impact or how to interpret the toggle’s current state it can lead to a confusing user experience.

The best way to avoid this is to provide direct labels, use standard visual design and deliver immediate results to users. Additionally, it is important to evaluate whether a toggle is the correct control for a particular situation and consider alternative options such as radio buttons or checkboxes.

Toggle Configuration

One of the most common uses for Toggles is to perform multivariate (or A/B) testing on a live system. By using a Toggle Router at runtime we can consistently send a cohort down one codepath or the other. This is a great example of how the power of Toggles can be harnessed to make data-driven improvements to production systems.

Toggle configuration is often based on static files which can become cumbersome to manage at scale. A better option is to build out some form of admin UI which allows system operators, testers and product managers to view and modify the Toggle configuration. This approach also reduces the need to deploy changes to a server just to change the state of a Toggle. In order to prevent accidental deployments of Toggles which are not required a good practice is to create a backlog task to remove any toggles that are no longer in use and then enforce an expiration date on these flags so they do not get accidentally re-deployed.