Toggle is a Web element that helps people manage the state of content or a view. This is the opposite of radio buttons which enable users to select one or more options, so toggles are best suited for decisions that affect the current state of an object. A toggle should be positioned in close proximity to the object or content it controls. This supports the Proximity Principle and makes it easier for users to understand what effect the toggle will have on the current state. It’s also important to provide clear toggle labels so that users can easily discern which state the control is currently in.

Toggles are often used in mobile applications where users have limited screen space and need to change settings quickly. For example, users might want to turn on or off a feature like airplane mode, which requires them to make a quick decision. A toggle switch is more efficient than a checkbox because it takes up less space and comes with a pre-selected default state (ON or OFF). However, when the choice to change the state of a feature does not require immediate results (such as when an email is sent), a better option would be a simple checkbox.

In addition to their use in user interfaces, toggles are also used in software development processes to implement features that are not ready for release. Toggle switches allow developers to hide the unfinished feature from production code while continuing to work on it in a private branch. This approach is a more flexible alternative to traditional waterfall development models, which usually require the completion of a full testing and QA process before a feature can be returned to trunk code.

A toggle can be a good way to perform A/B testing with a relatively small cohort of users. By using a toggle switch to select a test group, the Toggle Router can consistently send each member of the cohort down one or the other codepath. This allows for faster, more precise data collection than if the toggle was set randomly at runtime.

Depending on the application, the configuration of toggles can be stored in static files or in some type of centralized UI. The latter is typically a result of the need to manage toggle configuration at a large scale and maintain consistency across multiple servers.

Toggles can be useful for hiding content in articles, but there are limitations to their use. For instance, some viewers who know how to inspect the HTML code of an article will be able to see hidden content. In addition, toggles don’t fully hide content in the form of quotes or other containers with [container] tags. This content can still be displayed if it is inline in the article or if there are links to the container in question. For these reasons, it’s important to use a combination of toggles with other methods for hiding content. For example, in-article toggles can be used alongside subscriber group containers and spoiler buttons.