triadruid | Progress? Progress. Right.

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Progress? Progress. Right.

As some of you who are local may know, they've been taking one of the six elevators in City Hall down at a time for refurbishment. They sorely needed it, and while I can't yet see that they've made any improvements to the call-balancing algorithm, they no longer stop 3-6" above/below your floor, and the doors shut all the way. So bully for them.

However, the layout of the new buttons is a leetel confusing. Lemme splain... no, it would take too long, let me draw you a picture.

Here's the two 'short' elevators, which only go up to the 26th floor (at that point the building narrows, and only four elevators continue upward):

Short elevators
24	25	26
20	21	22	23
16	17	18	19
12	13	14	15
8	9	10	11
4	5	6	7
B	1	2	3

Keep in mind that at least one of these was among the first two elevators redesigned.

Now take a look at these button layouts, for the elevators which go all the way up to the 29th floor. One is the actual layout they've selected, the other is not:

Tall elevators, option 1
	28	29
24	25	26	27
20	21	22	23
16	17	18	19
12	13	14	15
8	9	10	11
4	5	6	7
B	1	2	3

Tall elevators, option 2
26	27	28	29
22	23	24	25
18	19	20	21
14	15	16	17
10	11	12	13
6	7	8	9
2	3	4	5
	B	1

Note:

agrnmn pointed out that I forgot to mention: You enter the building on 1, or through the basement if you come in through the parking garage.

Got it? Okay, great. Now here's your task, should you choose to accept it.

[Poll #566689]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Let me guess... the one that so far, 2 people have chosen, is the one they are *not* using, ie. it is the one that makes most "visual" sense.

I have worked for the guberment too long...

I can see that they have the numbers going left-right, which makes sense. But I find it much easier to orient my brain to sequence that reads top-bottom in progress of the numbers, not a spatial representation of the building.

Like, B 1 2 3
4 5 6 7

But that's just me, and I have no spatial relation-al thinking to speak of.

Huh. I have no idea if there's a Civil Engineering preference on that, it always makes sense to me to have the higher numbers at the top.

But then, it's probably a spatial-reference thing. Even flipping it, would you prefer making the upper floors line up or the lower floors?

So far as I've noticed, standard elevator procedure is high numbers at the top. Not sure whether that's an industry standard, though. ::google::
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Do not, under any circumstances, go to the wikipedia article on elevators while you're still at work, man. It's fascinating over there.

I have been trying the 'express' trick at work, hitting door-close and the floor at the same time.

Granted, I rather take the stairs... but how geeky is it that elevators have 'cheat codes'?

Wow- I SOoo wish I would have known that last weekend. It would have been a HUGE help with all the Elevator Wrasslin' the weekend entailed.

Just curious- Do you know about the Traffic Light Trick? Or is that old news by now?

Traffic light trick? I know that some have recievers and emergency vehicles can change them, and you can also alter the programming at the local electrical junction box, but what trick are you referring to?

Actually, an old Rocky Horror friend shared with me once that flickering your brights at a traffic signal will get it to expedite it's change. Lo and behold after trying said trick at a few lights in Downtown Jacksonville it worked. I'm not sure if it'll work there, and be sure that actual rescue personel would likely frown on such use, but if perhaps you find yourself stuck at an impossibly slow light with no one else in sight you might find it interesting to explore. On the other hand,

featherynscale already knows said trick, and she could probably tell you already if it worked in the K.C. area or not.

Said trick also being no substitute for good ol' fashioned Patience.

I hadn't heard that one, I assume it is a sensor used in some areas to trigger based on public safety lights.

The trick I use is to pull up, then pull up another foot, and pull up another foot. For signals with the wires under the asphalt, it seems to register as more than one car pulling up at the light. This is most usefull on lights where the sidestreets stay red for a loooong time.

The reason I might see the second working was if the main entrance floor was 2, of course that would make the short elevators numbering a little weird.

Sorry, I didn't specify. The main entrance floor is 1, although there's a Basement entrance through the parking garage.

I figured, but since logic seemed to be of questionable value in the building I didn't want to assume. Oh and I meant in the physical building, not it inhabitants.

My superior version is a modification of #2 (which I prefer because it makes B and 1 very easy to find. Presumably most people are going to use B and 1 fairly frequently, since they're the exits. only a limited number of people are going to use 28 and 29.) I would shift B and 1 to one side (probably the left, as we read L -> R) and interrupt the sequence with the door open/close buttons, which are also high-frequency hitters. Thus,

2 3 4 5
B 1 <> ><

or

2 3 4 5
<> >< B 1

Other than that, I don't see as it makes a damn bit of difference which you use, since all the buttons are there in a straightforward order, but have a slight preference for #2 due to the prominence of B and 1 in the layout.

I like it. Makes more sensee, really.

The way they've got the open/close buttons is below the numbered floors, like so:


< >			> <

I think option 1 makes sense because it provides user interface consistency between the elevators. People who take elevators in the same building a lot will end up pushing the button more out of sense memory than using the visual reference. If the buttons for B-26 are in the same place in each bank of elevators, they can do that and just remember the layout of the buttons for the few different floors. It's less to remember than having to deal with two completely different layouts.

end up pushing the button more out of sense memory than using the visual reference.

Point, there. At college, the dorm where most of the theatre majors lived had an elevator very similar to the one in the theatre building. There was one important difference, though -- the close-door button in the dorm elevator was in the same place as the alarm button in the theatre elevator. Exciting times...

Yeah, that's exactly why (as a regular user of the building) I wish they'd gone with 1. I go to 4 (my department) all the time, and sense memory says it's the 2nd button from the bottom, all the way to the left... except when it's not.

Dude, elevators go up.

Still got pot smoke in your system, Jax???

no, Silly (at least I don't think so) I was just pointing out that elevators go up. Dude.

It's true. Elevators go up... people go down. If you're lucky.

Oooh...people going down...

Dear god it's been far too long. ::headdesk, weeping::

Trust me, I know the feeling. No, really.

Are they actually showing floor 13? Most builders will skip from 12 to 14 because of superstition.

Yeah, they go straight through...very practical, that Truman fellow. ;)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Progress? Progress. Right.

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Got it in one

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Cheat Codes?!?

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bingo

I have just one thing to say:

Dude

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Re: Dude

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Query...

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