Just updating some content-heavy pages on our site and would welcome feedback on a consistency issue with the position of the side menu.

 

There are two types of pages in this section one with static illustrations in the text and another with animated/slideshow overview content. There are currently three page designs:

 

1: Transitions page - full width animated content - http://www.digitalworkshop.com/products/info/transitions.shtml

 

the page next to it...

 

2: Slideshows page - partial width animated content to leave side menu top aligned - http://www.digitalworkshop.com/products/info/slideshows.shtml

 

and the page next to that...

 

3: Effects page - static content with side menu top aligned - http://www.digitalworkshop.com/products/info/effects.shtml

 

I prefer the overview content to run the full width of the page (as in 1) compared to (2) but this puts the side menu in a position which is inconsistent with static content pages (in 3). If I move the side menu down in 3 it looks very odd. I could try a static banner for page 3 but there are sections this design applies to which are more abstract and a big illustration would be inappropriate.

 

Would appreciate any feedback/suggestions. I'm sure you know how it is - you keep going round in circles working on a problem until no solution seems right and sometimes a fresh eye can help the decision.

 

Many thanks in advance...

 

Paul

I think you should activate mobile viewports because the experience while viewing the designs on my nexus 4 isn't very good.

https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/ConfigureViewport

 

The designs do seem a bit dated/bland, maybe inject some brighter colors into it.

 

Also is it possible to reduce the number of links and use visuals to navigate.

Edited March 28, 201412 yr by TheFlyingSquirrel

I agree with TheFlyingSquirrel, colour is lacking, and replacing some of the text links with visual navigation would be good.

 

In answer to your question, have you tried using a full width div element on the static pages that flows it's content into the standard width content div bellow it. That would enable you to keep the side menu consistent and negate the need to use large banners on every page and it can be controlled through css..

Thanks both, do you mean extra colour in the slideshow or across the site? We avoid lots of colour because of the range of our material from games to corporate - a web colour scheme could clash - we've tried neutral colours but they always seem to clash somewhere on the site.

 

We can't replace the links with graphics because (a) there are far too many and ( some are so abstract a graphic simply wouldn't work - "competency assurance jumps out immediately

 

@TheFlyingSquirrel - you're right this is not a mobile site.

 

@weedy101 not sure I follow your solution on the side menu. Would this give a full width paragraph of text on static pages where there is a banner on the animated pages? might work but I don't like lots of width to copy as it becomes difficult to read.