Toggle is a digital trade journal highlighting the vital role that technology plays in companies and organizations across the industry spectrum and the men and women who make it happen. From cyber security and data privacy to cloud solutions and artificial intelligence, Toggle provides insight into the challenges facing today’s CIOs and CTOs.

In software, toggles are used to switch functionality on and off. They are a common feature in options and preferences menus. They can be used to enable features or disable them based on user preference and platform requirements. For example, they can be used to implement responsive design in web development by switching between different themes for users based on screen size and device type.

The term “toggle” may also be applied to hardware switches such as those found on a keyboard that toggle the Caps Lock and Num Lock functions. These are also considered to be toggles because they enforce a binary state — either they are on or off.

When designing and implementing feature toggles, the most important thing to keep in mind is that they must be cognitively OK for users to understand. Ideally, toggles should have a clear and concise description that makes it easy for users to discern the current state of the switch. They should also be consistent throughout an application. This helps ensure that they are always easy for users to understand.

Many teams choose to move their toggle configuration away from static files and into a more centralized store, such as an existing application DB. This makes it easier for developers, testers and product managers to manage their configuration. It also reduces the need to re-deploy artifacts in order to flip a flag or to test with both toggles flipped On and Off.