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As a general rule of design is it looked down upon to have more than one div on top of the page contents?

I have a table displaying a list of records. When one is clicked, another table is added against that row, showing sub-records (that is, click-through or drill-down data).

These sub-records also have a level of sub-records of their own. So I wish to put another table on top of the first two displaying info about those records, too. We would have two levels of sub-records on the screen along with the "base data".

Would that be too ridiculous?

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It is quite hard to picture what is happening or being asked here. Perhaps rewrite or provide some visuals to help communicate the situation. – Jay Jul 13 '12 at 15:27
If you could add a link to an image (you can upload to imgur.com without an account) that would be great, or expand your explanation...I can't quite parse it either – Ben Brocka♦ Jul 13 '12 at 15:46
was just a quick question just wanted an opinion other than my own – John Dream Jul 13 '12 at 17:18
While naturally I'm flattered that you should accept my answer within seconds, you might want to wait a bit to see if there are dissenting opinions. – Andrew Leach Jul 13 '12 at 17:24
@DonRigatone: Stack Exchange isn't the place to get "quick opinions other than your own". Sorry. – dnbrv Jul 13 '12 at 18:53

closed as not a real question by dnbrv, Ben Brocka♦ Jul 13 '12 at 18:38

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

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This sort of thing, I think. Note that the hierarchy is obvious and only the topmost has a close button. (Clicking to close the topmost would cause the close button in the one behind to be visible, and so on)

mockup

download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups

I don't see too much of a problem with this, provided that it is obvious what is on top and how to go back down (up?) the hierarchy to the base data. Having only one Close button visible at once helps — and would probably make the tables accessible to screen-readers/keyboards.

In fact I can't emphasise that enough: if it's not clear what the relationship between the tables is, or how to navigate between them, then that does create a problem and the answer must be "It's not a good idea". If it can be made clear, and I don't think I've done a bad job in the mockup, then it's probably workable.

You could make the first and second tables respond to clicks: for example, clicking "Valerie Liberty" in the table here would close the other two windows; but clicking "Library" could simply replace the topmost table with the relevant "sub-data". But that would simply provide shortcuts to closing tables and choosing again.

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