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Comment by ziptron | Hacker News Reader

I always wished elevator buttons could toggle. If you accidentally press the wrong floor, just press it again to cancel. This may not work in all situations, but in some situations, it could be a time saver.

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I always try this if I accidentally press a button, or enter an empty lift with a few buttons pressed. One glorious day in a hotel in Penang, I double-pressed a button and my dreams came true, lights out. That one experience will be enough to keep my dreams alive for decades to come

Many modern ones in high rise buildings require you to scan a key fob and/or enter the desired floor number, then it tells you which elevator to go wait at. The ones with the key fob often replace your previous selection automatically.

There are not buttons in this style of elevator other than door open door close and call for help.

In an office building near me, the security person at reception enters a destination floor and tells you which elevator to step into. There are no controls outside or in the elevator (other than emergency stuff).

A so-called "lobby system". Works well, IFF people understand that 1 passenger <=> 1 press, instead of having a group of (say) 5 having only one in the group press, then all of them piling in.

Used correctly, it can massively improve the elevator usage experience. Used incorrectly, it ends up being worse than a "indicate travel direction" system.

Having used it in 3 (I think) buildings with this system, it was definitely used correctly in one, definitely NOT used correctly in another and in the third, I was mostly present sufficiently outside normal working hours that I cannot with certainty state how it was used.

It works this way often in (north-east) Asia. Double-tap a selected floor and it unselects. Brilliant.

Yep. My office one does that. I first it was a joke, but it actually is indeed a brilliant scheme to avoid misclicks.

And as you seldom unselect, it's Huffman coding for the win ;-)

our elevator does that, and i noticed it is quite common in chinese elevators. i can undo all destinations which makes the elevator just stop.

living on the top floor of a highrise, i was occasionally able to use that when i realized that i forgot something at home (although most times it takes me longer to realize that than the elevator needs to make it all the way down)

it is also very useful when the kids are naughty and press all the buttons for fun

This is my top of the wish list feature as well! Then my 9yo son told me the feature exists, just double tap/press the desired floor button. I thought he was joking, but no! It works!! How he discovered it I will never know!

I think the reason for this could be to prevent you cancelling other people's destinations. I can only imagine the public freakout that could unfold, even if it was accidental.

the thing is that elevators are these days way more complex than anybody would even imagine, but the thing also is that there are no tutorials given to people who use them. Also extra features cost extra money and building owners usually just want the very basic stuff for residentals.

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