the code:
topbottom=top lcr=$theme_top_order|substr:0:1
topbottom=top lcr=$theme_top_order|substr:1:1
topbottom=top lcr=$theme_top_order|substr:2:1
is used to display the custom blocks in three columns in a straight row or move them around in different positions, and not the usual way we know them with center-center block below or above the center-left and center-right blocks in a static way hard to move.
but there is several other pieces of code that need to be put together in the theme for this to work correctly. Like this:
In the head tags of the theme you find:
<{* Center blocks display order valid values are: lrc (left right / center) lcr (left center right) clr (center / left right) *}>
<{assign var=theme_top_order value=lcr}>
<{assign var=theme_bottom_order value=lrc}>
LCR represents each of the three blocks, L for left, R for right, C for center, by changing their order you automatically change the way block positioning is displayed in the theme. So you can edit the assign value and insert diferent combinations like: LCR, RLC, CLR ...and it will take effect like magic on your theme.
This is all linked to the centerblocks.html where you will find this code which applies the block display configuration:
<{if $lcr=='l'}><{assign var=lcr value='left'}>
<{elseif $lcr=='r'}><{assign var=lcr value='right'}>
<{else}><{assign var=lcr value='center'}>
<{/if}>
<{assign var=zone value="page_$topbottom$lcr"}>
and finally in the layout-soup.css you'll find the widths used for each block.
I've tried applying this to tableless layouts and it works ok but I haven't applied yet to table layouts, so I'm not sure how the styling would work there.
The theme City Reflections was made using
Morphogenesis as template. In morphogenesis you will be able to observe this too.
Yet I didn't invent this. This is something the core developers integrated into the XOOPS 2.3 default theme which you can download from the SVN trunk.