[support] Arranging multiple blocks in custom region

[Hakan]

Using Drupal 7 I am customizing the front page on a web site I am
developing for my own (commercial) use. I used the Zen theme as a base,
created a subtheme etc. which went well. After creating a tpl.php file
just for the front page, I have now added a custom region (between the
main content and the footer) and added three blocks to this custom
region using the Block Administration page of the theme. Using weights
I can arrange the order of the three blocks I have, provided I want
them one below the other.

However, I want them side-by-side and I want each block to have some
custom formatting. After Googling the drupal site I found this link
http://drupal.org/node/1151704 which seems to address my problem.

Since I am new to Drupal I thought I would see if there are any other
solutions beside the one in the link? I should also add that before
adding the custom region I had added custom PHP code (and corresponding
statements in a CSS file) to place the three blocks approximately where
I wanted them on the page. However, while they were separated from the
main content region, no matter what I did the Footer got intermixed
with my block content, hence the Googling described above.

Suggestions greatly appreciated! Thanks.