LED strips can be controlled by a simple on/off switch or you can you a proper controller. These vary depending on what type of strip you are using and what you want the strip to do. If our using RGB strip then you can have controllers that make patterns including fading through colours and flashing on and off, if your using solid colour strip you can get controllers to dim the strip down or remote controllers. You can also get Wi-Fi controllers so that you can control the strip using your phone or tablet.