# Segmented Control

> A small row of mutually exclusive options that switches how a view is shown, not what it contains.

- Category: UI Components
- Canonical: https://www.themasterly.com/glossary/segmented-control

A segmented control is a compact row of two to four mutually exclusive options with one always selected. Monthly and annual. List, board and calendar. Day, week and month.

The distinction that decides when to use it: **it changes how a view is presented, not what the view contains.** That is what separates it from [tabs](https://www.themasterly.com/glossary/tabs-ui), which swap the content itself.

## Against its neighbours

| | Presents | One always selected | Right for |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Segmented control** | Modes of one view | Yes | 2–4 peers, switching presentation |
| **[Tabs](https://www.themasterly.com/glossary/tabs-ui)** | Different content | Yes | Alternative views of one object |
| **[Radio buttons](https://www.themasterly.com/glossary/radio-button)** | A choice to submit | Not necessarily | A decision in a form |
| **[Toggle](https://www.themasterly.com/glossary/toggle-switch)** | On or off | n/a | A setting with a default and an absence |

The toggle confusion is worth naming. Monthly versus annual billing is two peers; rendering it as a toggle implies one is the default and the other is a deviation, which misrepresents a pricing choice as a setting. Two segments read as equals, which is what they are.

## Where it fits

**Pricing pages.** Monthly and annual, with the saving stated on the annual option. This is close to a convention.

**View modes.** List, board, calendar, timeline. The content is identical; the arrangement is not.

**Time ranges.** Day, week, month, quarter — where the range is short and fixed. Past four, a dropdown.

**Density.** Comfortable and compact in a data-heavy tool, though this is often better as a remembered preference than a visible control.

Where it does not fit: anything with five or more options, anything with labels of wildly different lengths, and anything that is genuinely a decision to be submitted rather than a view to be switched.

## Details that matter

**Equal-width segments where labels allow**, otherwise sized to content. A row where one segment is three times another reads as unbalanced and makes the selected state harder to see.

**The selected state must be unmistakable.** This control is small, and a subtle selected state on a small control is an ambiguous control. Background fill rather than a border change.

**Never render it disabled with no selection.** Something is always chosen; an empty segmented control is a broken one.

**It is a radio group underneath.** Arrow keys move within it, Tab moves past it, and assistive technology should hear a group with one selected option. Building it from styled divs loses all of that.

**Labels stay short.** One or two words. A segment that needs five words wanted a dropdown.

## In practice

A pricing page presents monthly and annual billing as a toggle, labelled "Annual billing" with a switch.

It converts poorly to annual, and support hears a recurring question: whether the price shown is with or without the discount. The toggle implies monthly is the product and annual is an option applied to it, so people read the default price as the real one and the switch as a modifier they have not fully understood.

Replacing it with two equal segments — Monthly, Annual — and putting "Save 20%" on the annual segment changes how the choice reads. Two prices, two peers, one visibly better.

The underlying offer never changed. The control had been describing a relationship between the options that did not exist.

## Where teams get it wrong

- **Using it where tabs belong.** Different content, not a different view of the same content.
- **A toggle for two peers.** One option framed as a deviation from the other.
- **Five or more segments.** A squeezed row nobody can read.
- **A subtle selected state.** Ambiguity on the control least able to afford it.
- **Divs instead of a radio group.** No keyboard, no announcement.

## Related terms

- [Tabs UI](https://www.themasterly.com/glossary/tabs-ui)
- [Radio Button](https://www.themasterly.com/glossary/radio-button)
- [Toggle Switch](https://www.themasterly.com/glossary/toggle-switch)
- [UI Design](https://www.themasterly.com/glossary/ui-design)

## FAQ

**What is a segmented control?**

A compact row of two to four mutually exclusive options, one always selected, used to switch the mode of a view. Monthly and annual pricing, list and board, day and week and month. It changes how something is displayed rather than which thing you are looking at.

**What is the difference between a segmented control and tabs?**

Tabs change what you are looking at — different content in each panel. A segmented control changes how the same content is presented. Switching from a list view to a board view is a segmented control; switching from Details to Billing is tabs.

**How many options can a segmented control have?**

Two to four. Each option is visible and sized to its label, so a fifth starts squeezing the row and a long label breaks it. Past four, or where labels vary a lot in length, radio buttons or a dropdown are better.

**Is a segmented control the same as a toggle?**

No. A toggle is on or off and implies a default state that can be returned to. A segmented control presents peers, none of which is an off state. Using a toggle for two equal alternatives — Monthly versus Annual — misrepresents them as a setting and its absence.

**Should a segmented control be in the URL?**

If it changes what somebody sees meaningfully, yes. A view mode people will want to share or return to belongs in the URL alongside filters and sort. A purely cosmetic density switch is better remembered as a per-user preference.

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