New block regions and phptemplate

a big +1 from me.

very good thing to do dude. =)

There is no patch.

IMHO, the block-region thing is not needed. You can do something like this in your theme:

<?php
  switch ($block->region) :
    case 'header':
    case 'footer':
?>
<div class="block-<?php print $block->region; ?>"><?php print $block->content; ?></div>
<?php
      break;
    case 'content':
?>
<div class="box">
	<h3 class="title"><?php print $block->subject; ?></h3>
	<div class="content"><?php print $block->content; ?></div>
	<br class="clear" />
</div>
<br />
<?php
      break;
    default:
?>
<div class="block block-<?php print $block->module; ?>" id="block-<?php print $block->module; ?>-<?php print $block->delta; ?>">
	<h2 class="title"><?php print $block->subject; ?></h2>
	<div class="content"><?php print $block->content; ?></div>
	<br class="clear" />
</div>
<br />
<?php
      break;
  endswitch;
?>

...or you could do this including external files to your block.tpl.php script, or maybe differences between block regions can be styled using CSS with something like:

#sidebar-left .block {
  foo: blue;
}
#sidebar-right .block {
  bar: red;
}

Then, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but you could create a file in yourtheme folder named yourtheme.theme and include a function yourtheme_regions() to override the theme/system default.

PS: I would set the status as "not apply", but it doesn't exist, it seems "by design" may also work.

1) True, true, it sounds like a simple change that offers more power. ;-)

2) Those new 'content' regions are already be populated by the following code in _phptemplate_default_variables():

if (!in_array($region, array('left', 'right', 'footer'))) {
  isset($variables[$region]) ? $variables[$region] .= theme('blocks', $region) : $variables[$region] = theme('blocks', $region);
}

I have a doubt, would it be better to concatenate those block regions in page.tpl.php?

...or add 'content-top' and 'content-bottom' to that in_array check in _phptemplate_default_variables()?

I have applied (manually, though) and worked like a charm.

There is something that might be addressed related to content-top blocks. Concatenated at the begining of $content, it shows blocks below other things that may come before the content, such as the title, tabs, help and messages.

Should content-top blocks be rendered before all that?

Just to throw a small wrench in here, should the regions not be called content-before and content-after rather than content-top and content-bottom? Top and bottom are visual layout issues that should be handled by CSS. Before and after define the order in the output, which is what is actually being changed here.

Otherwise, +1 on being able to put blocks on both "ends" of content.

printing $content_top in page.tpl.php?

Do you mean this?

You can create a file named 'yourtheme.theme' that includes a function similar to this:

function yourtheme_regions() {
  return array(
       'left' => t('left sidebar'),
       'right' => t('right sidebar'),
       'header' => t('header'),
       'footer' => t('footer')
  );
}

This script, if exists in your theme folder, is included by init_theme() (in themes.inc) and you can use it override any other theme_whatever function.

That's why I believe one of your additions is not really needed. You can do this:

1) Create yourtheme.theme with the following contents:

function phpmix_org_regions() {
  return array(
       'left' => t('left sidebar'),
       'right' => t('right sidebar'),
       'content_top' => t('content (top)'),
       'content_bottom' => t('content (bottom)'),
       'header' => t('header'),
       'footer' => t('footer')
  );
}

2) In page.tpl.php (or whatever else .tpl.php file), add the following:

<?php print $content_top; ?>
<?php print $content_bottom; ?>

And you can place your regions wherever you wish.

Closing. The region-specific block theming is implemented in Drupal 5. The extra content-top and content-bottom regions are not needed in core, IMO - themers can add them if they want them.