I am in a kind of dilemma here hopefully you guys and gals can help me out.

First let me say that I am real big on consistent navigation and design/layout..
(Hence my dilemma)

The Issue;

I am working on a site where some of the different sections and the main sites design/layout are getting along like water with electricity.

The "Home, Updates, Contact" (main page links) are horizontal across the top and the sub navigation vertical on the left. The main content is in a 550px wide container in the middle of the page.

The different sections that don't want to play nice mess with the sites design as they require a wider content area thus breaking the site design.

Do you see changing/modifying the design layout for these sections as a bad thing or do you think it would be ok without creating a lot of confusion for the user/visitor?

Well, I reckon you should stick with consistency.

I think we both suffer with the same personality flaw. It's not all that far removed from compulsive whatever disorder that Mile Tyson suffers from. It's just like having to step on the joins in the concrete footpath. It won't hurt to retain the consistent look and you'll feel better about it.

Have you considered having the odd display open in a new window? That would retain the integrity of your site while allowing for the display of the odd page sections in a window that retains something of the site's look.

I wanted to do this myself the other week with a table of data, but didn't know how, so had to break the table.

Regards,
Laurie.

I do it on a particular section and it seems to work ok, I will PM you the link

Laurie wrote:

Have you considered having the odd display open in a new window? That would retain the integrity of your site while allowing for the display of the odd page sections in a window that retains something of the site's look

Thought about this, tried it and decided that it would still be the same thing. Also some of the pages are interactive and use a js pop-up browser window. Putting these two things together I decided against going that route.

WS wrote:

I do it on a particular section and it seems to work ok, I will PM you the link

Thanks, I would like to have a look

I reckon a 550px wide main content area is way to thin.

the box i'm writing in now is 653px wide and still doesn't take up the width of the main column.........

does the content not lend it's self to a fluid layout?

I love the consistent look, it keeps things perdy... and if one page looks good you can pretty much bet the fact that every other page will look just as good

Personally i hate the idea of a horizontal scroll bar but perhaps you can make a plan to get it to work in the site, From the sound of the menus a little oddity like that may just fit in...

I use vertical scroll bars damn useful, i dont like layouts that stretch... they are nice, just not for me... alternatively why not just go with Northies logic, make the whole thing bigger - problem solved

Have you considered adjusting the site for 1024x768 resolution?  I've noticed that only 7-8% of my users are using a lower resolution.

Steven_A_S wrote:

Have you considered adjusting the site for 1024x768 resolution?  I've noticed that only 7-8% of my users are using a lower resolution.

I've only got 3%-4% viewing on anything narrower than 1024; but have had to start worrying about excessive vertical scrolling on wide-screen laptops (like one of mine!)

When you say not playing nice - can you be more specific?
Are you using CSS for layout? It's hard to really know what to suggest until you can get a visual. Are you using data driven content? I recently had to adjust a design I envisioned as fixed width but because the site ended up with so much looped data ( lots of columns) I had to change to fluid design. Otherwise the text was just way too small.

For me the type of information / content dictates the design - do you have a link?

More info;

All CSS no tables,
3 column,
all static pages
optimized for 1024 width display
Those here that know me may find this surprising, but I am not too concerned with the horizontal scroll that will happen when viewed in smaller browsers.

In doing some research I found that the optimal reading width is 500 to 600 px wide.

The problem sections, for optimal visibility and display, require the main content to be a minimum of 850px wide. When changing from the 3 column to a 2 column layout causes the images used for the design to break and not line up properly. So I began thinking about modifying the design to accommodate the wider content.

Yah I know how difficult it could be to troubleshoot some things without seeing something. Sorry, no link.

Hey, CE!

From your friendly, neighborhood user (sure doesn't mean what it used to mean), I can say that differences in navigational layouts don't usually throw me, but Laurie said something early on that got me thinking -- did you know that 98% have some kind of obsessive-compulsive problem (and I think the other 2% lie! ) ?

With that, I'd guess it really depends on the purpose of your site -- if it's commericial or professional, yeah, you'll have to force those babies to act properly! (Doesn't this strike you as the weirdest person to answer your problem, given my "superior" knowledge of css and all? ) If it's just for fun or trival, most of your audience won't care. Unfortunatley, that "most" gets back to what Laurie said, we need to count in those OCD folks, and assume some are just as obsessive about consistence in navigation, as you, Laurie, and Ryan are about consistency in your navigation. To steal from a famous lyric, "You can't always get what you want, but, if you try sometimes, you get what the majority needs."

Now "all" you need to do is figure out how to force it. Sorry, can't help ya there, but I strongly suspect if you show the problem, these folks, who already answered before me, can help you. Can't you just show the difference between your css on obedient pages compared to the css on the wild pages? Assuming Northie is right that css is as logical as html, I've got to think that you're probably missing a tiny little something that you can't see, simply because your mind keeps adjusting it. Fresh eyes might pick it up.

A big thanks to everyone.

Looks like consistency wins out.

Navigation not a problem, content will have to change on the main pages some. Rework a couple of images and change some of the CSS and all will be good.