I’ve worked on SaaS products where the Settings page quietly swallowed the whole experience. Not in one dramatic release – in gentle increments. A toggle here to “keep options open”, a checkbox there to “unblock a stakeholder”, a dropdown to “cover an edge case”. It feels generous in the moment. It reads like hesitation later.
This is a personal take on the wall-of-settings problem - a little softer round the edges, more liberal in spirit, and firmly on the side of users who want to get on with their day.
Confession: I’ve helped build those walls. This is how I try to undo them now.
What bloat looks like up close
Bloat rarely looks like clutter while you’re adding it. It looks like kindness.
- An “Advanced” switch with a vague description that no one wants to delete
- Two places to manage notifications because both teams were right in their own way
- Privacy choices hidden under “Enhanced personalisation” because the label debate timed out
- Feature flags that escaped into public view and never returned
Individually, harmless. Together, a cognitive tax. Users don’t feel powerful - they feel responsible for our indecision. I’ve shipped all four at some point; I still wince when I read the old tickets.
Why we bolt on toggles
The generous answer: we care about choice. The honest answer: we avoid decisions.
- Stakeholders ask for flexibility and we oblige
- A vocal minority keeps a legacy switch alive
- Settings become the compromise when we can’t align on a default
- We tell ourselves it’s user empowerment, when it’s really risk transfer
I say this with love - I’ve done it too. The fix isn’t shame. It’s craft.
My tell: the moment I hear myself say “we’ll just add a setting,” I’m dodging a decision.
A liberal take on control
“Liberal” here means trusting users with meaningful control and liberating them from busywork. Pick clear defaults where the product can be smart. Offer choice only where outcomes genuinely differ.
Think in tiers:
- Default with a reason – the product chooses well most of the time and says why
- Presets for real jobs – Focused, Standard, Everything beats fifteen granular sliders
- Advanced when it’s genuinely advanced – tucked away with a one-line promise of what’s inside
That’s not paternalistic. It’s respectful. You’re saving attention for the moments that matter.
My “Settings Amnesty” week
A ritual I run with teams when the wall starts creaking:
Day 1 – Inventory
List every setting across web, desktop, mobile. Note owner, default state, last updated. No judgement yet.
Day 2 – Usage and intent
Pull 90-day usage and 6 months of support mentions. I bring biscuits for Day 2 - feelings come up. For each control, answer: what job does this serve? If we removed it, who would hurt?
Day 3 – Merge and move
Collapse duplicates. Move in-flow preferences into the place they matter. Hide admin-only switches from end users.
Day 4 – Replace with patterns
Trade toggles for presets, sensible defaults, progressive disclosure. Add previews. Make destructive choices clear and reversible.
Day 5 – Language pass
Rename for humans. Headings are facts, not vibes. Buttons are outcomes, not chores. Tooltips that explain basic controls are a design bug - fix the control and delete the tooltip.
Ship a small set each day. Measure for two weeks. Keep the wins.
What to keep, what to retire
Keep controls that:
- Change outcomes in obvious, high-utility ways
- Satisfy compliance or accessibility needs that can’t be inferred
- Support professional workflows where presets genuinely won’t do
Retire controls that:
- Exist to appease an internal argument
- Duplicate functionality elsewhere
- See under 2 percent usage without a safety or compliance rationale
If you’re unsure, move the control closer to the task. If it becomes clearer in-context, keep it. If it vanishes from memory, it was busywork.
Language that doesn’t apologise
A charming voice can still be decisive. Try this spine:
- Say what this affects – “Notifications for mentions and DMs”
- Say the default and why – “Default: Focused, to reduce noise”
- Give one confident next step – “Switch to All activity if you need full visibility”
Avoid hedging. Maybe, just, a bit, kind of - all of these leak confidence. Friendly is fine. Foggy is not.
My sticky note: maybe, just, a bit, kinda, looks like. If one ships under my watch, coffee’s on me.
Where settings actually belong
- In-flow controls – sort order, density, filters. Immediate, reversible, and next to the thing they change
- Onboarding choices – a small number of decisions that shape the experience from day one
- Admin/advanced – high-impact, infrequent, clearly owned, with safe undo
- No UI at all – when the product can infer a sensible behaviour and explain it transparently
A small story about trust
We once shipped a “Labs” section stuffed with switches. It felt exciting - like giving people the keys to the studio. Within a month our support queue filled with screenshots of states we hadn’t fully considered. We replaced ten toggles with three opinionated presets and a single Advanced link with a plain-English summary. Same capability, half the decisions, trust restored. No one wrote in to mourn the toggles. They thanked us for the calm. The morning after, our Slack was a forest of screenshots; I still have the search saved.
Measure the boring things
Simplicity is not just aesthetics - it’s operational. Track:
- Time to first value for new users
- Support tickets per 1,000 users referencing settings
- Misconfiguration errors and recovery time
- Task completion on flows previously blocked by choices
If those move in the right direction, your “fewer, smarter” bet is paying off.
The invitation
Be generous with outcomes, not switches. Keep the spirit of choice, lose the ritual of toggling. Choose well by default and show your workings. Offer control where it’s meaningful. Retire the rest with a short, honest note about why.
Clean the wall. Clarify the UX. Not because minimalism is fashionable - because attention is finite. Your users will thank you, not for more options, but for better ones.
That’s the pep talk I give myself before I add a toggle.
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