Without the top navigation visible, removing the outer box is clearly a good idea. And splitting the bottom section instead of subsetting it looks better and is reasonable, but in my opinion is less usable.
Allow me to clarify. The original author took a widely-used technique from print media, that being the off-color box for parenthetical, tangential and optional content, and applied it to a web site. This affords the reader an impression as to the nature of the small box prior to reading it, which allows them to either specifically seek it out or ignore it when estimating information density and structure. The new design incorrectly presents the two last sections as related more concretely than the old design, diminishing the reader's capacity to characterize the information for absorption and rediscovery.
Without the top navigation visible, removing the outer box is clearly a good idea. And splitting the bottom section instead of subsetting it looks better and is reasonable, but in my opinion is less usable.
Allow me to clarify. The original author took a widely-used technique from print media, that being the off-color box for parenthetical, tangential and optional content, and applied it to a web site. This affords the reader an impression as to the nature of the small box prior to reading it, which allows them to either specifically seek it out or ignore it when estimating information density and structure. The new design incorrectly presents the two last sections as related more concretely than the old design, diminishing the reader's capacity to characterize the information for absorption and rediscovery.