Hi Tyler. I would really go through this much trouble for a taricha to have land. I feel like my tarichas are often annoyed by the floating corkbark (which they swim into more often than they get up onto it). So, if you just want them to have land, I'd go with something floating. Or, compromise and get a turtle dock which "floats" but mounts to the side of the aquarium so it doesn't float around all over the place.
Now, back to your questions. I'm not exactly sure how you plan to insert the divider, but I believe you are planning to do it like this:
http://www.caudata.org/people/JM/divtank.html
(Jennifer Macke's divided tank project)
If that's how you're going to do it, I think that would be just fine. You've still given the newt lots of space to swim. If you are placing the glass in another fashion, then I'm not really sure exactly what you mean. As long as you are still giving the newt lots of water in which to swim and have lots of surface area for the water, it should be okay.
How is your tank setup now? Specifically, what land are you providing now, and is the newt using it? If he's not taking advantage of the land area he has now, he probably won't care if you go through all this trouble to make him a nicer land area (which can be frustrating, hehe). But if he's spending a decent amount of time on land now then he would probably like what you are proposing.
Good luck!
