diff --git a/blocks/dock.js b/blocks/dock.js
index 503a646f12b..609277800b0 100644
--- a/blocks/dock.js
+++ b/blocks/dock.js
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ M.core_dock = {
         buffer:10,                          // Buffer used when containing a panel
         position:'left',                    // position of the dock
         orientation:'vertical',             // vertical || horizontal determines if we change the title
+        titlerotation:'counterclockwise',
         /**
          * Display parameters for the dock
          * @namespace
@@ -378,7 +379,7 @@ M.core_dock = {
 
             this.cachedcontentnode = node;
 
-            var placeholder = this.Y.Node.create('<div id="content_placeholder_'+this.id+'"></div>');
+            var placeholder = this.Y.Node.create('<div id="content_placeholder_'+this.id+'" class="block_dock_placeholder"></div>');
             node.replace(this.Y.Node.getDOMNode(placeholder));
             node = null;
 
@@ -442,8 +443,57 @@ M.core_dock = {
          * @param {YUI.Node} node
          */
         fix_title_orientation : function(node) {
-            node.innerHTML = node.innerHTML.replace(/(.)/g, "$1<br />");
-            return node;
+            var title = node.firstChild.nodeValue;
+
+            var clockwise = false;
+            if (M.core_dock.cfg.titlerotation == 'counterclockwise') {
+                clockwise = false;
+            } else if (M.core_dock.cfg.titlerotation == 'clockwise') {
+                clockwise = true;
+            } else {
+                clockwise = (M.core_dock.cfg.titleorientation)(M.str.langconfig.thisdirectionvertical=='ttb');
+            }
+
+            if (YAHOO.env.ua.ie > 0) {
+                if (YAHOO.env.ua.ie > 7) {
+                    // IE8 can flip the text via CSS
+                    node.setAttribute('style', 'writing-mode: tb-rl; filter: flipV flipH;');
+                } else {
+                    // IE < 7 can't do anything cool, just settle to stacked letters
+                    title = title.split('').join('<br />');
+                    node.innerHTML = title;
+                }
+                return node;
+            }
+
+            // Cool, we can use SVG!
+            var test = M.core_dock.Y.Node.create('<div><span style="font-size:10pt;">'+title+'</span></div>');
+            M.core_dock.Y.one(document.body).append(test);
+            var height = test.one('span').get('offsetWidth');
+            var width = test.one('span').get('offsetHeight')*2;
+            var qwidth = width/4;
+            test.remove();
+
+            var txt = document.createElementNS('http://www.w3.org/2000/svg', 'text');
+            txt.setAttribute('font-size', '10');
+            if (clockwise) {
+                txt.setAttribute('transform','rotate(90 '+(qwidth/2)+' '+qwidth+')');
+            } else {
+                txt.setAttribute('y', height);
+                txt.setAttribute('transform','rotate(270 '+qwidth+' '+(height-qwidth)+')');
+            }
+            txt.appendChild(document.createTextNode(node.firstChild.nodeValue));
+
+            var svg = document.createElementNS('http://www.w3.org/2000/svg', 'svg');
+            svg.setAttribute('version', '1.1');
+            svg.setAttribute('height', height);
+            svg.setAttribute('width', width);
+            svg.appendChild(txt);
+
+            var div = document.createElement(node.nodeName);
+            div.appendChild(svg);
+
+            return div;
         },
         /**
          * Resizes the space that contained blocks if there were no blocks left in
@@ -451,22 +501,39 @@ M.core_dock = {
          * @param {Y.Node} node
          */
         resize_block_space : function(node) {
-            node = node.ancestor('.block-region');
-            if (node) {
-                var width =  node.getStyle('width');
-                if (node.all('.block').size() === 0 && this.blockspacewidth === null) {
-                    // If the node has no children then we can shrink it
-                    this.blockspacewidth = width;
-                    node.setStyle('width', '0px');
-                } else if (this.blockspacewidth !== null) {
-                    // Otherwise if it contains children and we have saved a width
-                    // we can reapply the width
-                    node.setStyle('width', this.blockspacewidth);
-                    this.blockspacewidth = null;
+            var blockregions = [];
+            var populatedblockregions = 0;
+            M.core_dock.Y.all('.block-region').each(function(region){
+                var hasblocks = (region.all('.block').size() > 0);
+                if (hasblocks) {
+                    populatedblockregions++;
+                }
+                blockregions[region.get('id')] = {hasblocks: hasblocks, bodyclass: region.get('id').replace(/^region\-/, 'side-')+'-only'};
+            });
+            var bodynode = M.core_dock.Y.one(document.body);
+            var noblocksbodyclass = 'content-only';
+            var i = null;
+            if (populatedblockregions==0) {
+                bodynode.addClass(noblocksbodyclass);
+                for (i in blockregions) {
+                    bodynode.removeClass(blockregions[i].bodyclass);
+                }
+            } else if (populatedblockregions==1) {
+                bodynode.removeClass(noblocksbodyclass);
+                for (i in blockregions) {
+                    if (!blockregions[i].hasblocks) {
+                        bodynode.removeClass(blockregions[i].bodyclass);
+                    } else {
+                        bodynode.addClass(blockregions[i].bodyclass);
+                    }
+                }
+            } else {
+                bodynode.removeClass(noblocksbodyclass);
+                for (i in blockregions) {
+                    bodynode.removeClass(blockregions[i].bodyclass);
                 }
-                return width;
             }
-            return null;
+            return '200px';
         },
         /**
          * This function removes a block from the dock and puts it back into the page
diff --git a/lib/outputrequirementslib.php b/lib/outputrequirementslib.php
index c1b268886f4..e52905738a2 100644
--- a/lib/outputrequirementslib.php
+++ b/lib/outputrequirementslib.php
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ class page_requirements_manager {
                     $module = array('name'     => 'core_dock',
                                     'fullpath' => '/blocks/dock.js',
                                     'requires' => array('base', 'cookie', 'dom', 'io', 'node', 'event-custom', 'event-mouseenter', 'yui2-container'),
-                                    'strings' => array(array('addtodock', 'block'),array('undockitem', 'block'),array('undockall', 'block')));
+                                    'strings' => array(array('addtodock', 'block'),array('undockitem', 'block'),array('undockall', 'block'),array('thisdirectionvertical', 'langconfig')));
                     break;
                 case 'core_calendar':
                     $module = array('name'     => 'core_calendar',
diff --git a/theme/base/layout/frontpage.php b/theme/base/layout/frontpage.php
index 67b4e583927..32ce42e499e 100644
--- a/theme/base/layout/frontpage.php
+++ b/theme/base/layout/frontpage.php
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ echo $OUTPUT->doctype() ?>
                 </div>
                 
                 <?php if ($hassidepre) { ?>
-                <div id="region-pre">
+                <div id="region-pre" class="block-region">
                     <div class="region-content">
                         <?php echo $OUTPUT->blocks_for_region('side-pre') ?>
                     </div>
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ echo $OUTPUT->doctype() ?>
                 <?php } ?>
                 
                 <?php if ($hassidepost) { ?>
-                <div id="region-post">
+                <div id="region-post" class="block-region">
                     <div class="region-content">
                         <?php echo $OUTPUT->blocks_for_region('side-post') ?>
                     </div>
diff --git a/theme/base/layout/general.php b/theme/base/layout/general.php
index 803570a2284..7dca3db8edb 100644
--- a/theme/base/layout/general.php
+++ b/theme/base/layout/general.php
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ echo $OUTPUT->doctype() ?>
                 </div>
                 
                 <?php if ($hassidepre) { ?>
-                <div id="region-pre">
+                <div id="region-pre" class="block-region">
                     <div class="region-content">
                         <?php echo $OUTPUT->blocks_for_region('side-pre') ?>
                     </div>
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ echo $OUTPUT->doctype() ?>
                 <?php } ?>
                 
                 <?php if ($hassidepost) { ?>
-                <div id="region-post">
+                <div id="region-post" class="block-region">
                     <div class="region-content">
                         <?php echo $OUTPUT->blocks_for_region('side-post') ?>
                     </div>
diff --git a/theme/standard/javascript/navigation.js b/theme/standard/javascript/navigation.js
index e2d4cc34174..035a7c3024d 100644
--- a/theme/standard/javascript/navigation.js
+++ b/theme/standard/javascript/navigation.js
@@ -5,80 +5,5 @@ function customise_dock_for_theme() {
     }
     // Throw a lightbox for the navigation boxes
     M.core_dock.cfg.panel.modal = true;
-    /**
-     * This function converts the title of each docked block to make it vertical.
-     *
-     * In the case of browsers that support svg (scalable vector graphics) an SVG is
-     * generated to rotate the text. In the case of IE we have to settle for making
-     * it letter over letter.
-     *
-     * @param {Y.Node} node
-     */
-    M.core_dock.genericblock.prototype.fix_title_orientation = function(node) {
-        if (YAHOO.env.ua.ie > 0) {
-            if (YAHOO.env.ua.ie > 7) {
-                // IE8 can flip the text via CSS
-                node.setAttribute('style', 'writing-mode: tb-rl; filter: flipV flipH;');
-            } else {
-                // IE < 7 can't do anything cool, just settle to stacked letters
-                node.innerHTML = node.innerHTML.replace(/(.)/g, "$1<br />");
-            }
-            return node;
-        }
-        // Cool, we can use SVG!
-        var test = M.core_dock.Y.Node.create('<div><span>'+node.firstChild.nodeValue+'</span></div>');
-        M.core_dock.Y.one(document.body).append(test);
-        var height = test.one('span').get('offsetWidth');
-        test.remove();
-
-        var txt = document.createElementNS('http://www.w3.org/2000/svg', 'text');
-        txt.setAttribute('x', '0');
-        txt.setAttribute('y', '0');
-        txt.setAttribute('transform','rotate(90, 5, 5)');
-        txt.appendChild(document.createTextNode(node.firstChild.nodeValue));
-
-        var svg = document.createElementNS('http://www.w3.org/2000/svg', 'svg');
-        svg.setAttribute('version', '1.1');
-        svg.setAttribute('height', height);
-        svg.setAttribute('width', 30);
-        svg.appendChild(txt);
-
-        var div = document.createElement(node.nodeName);
-        div.appendChild(svg);
-
-        return div;
-    }
-    /**
-     * This function makes sure that if all blocks from one side or the other are docked
-     * the gap that is left behind if closed up. This is done of course by using classes.
-     */
-    M.core_dock.genericblock.prototype.resize_block_space = function() {
-        var blockregions = {
-            pre: {
-                hasblocks : (M.core_dock.Y.one('#region-pre') && M.core_dock.Y.one('#region-pre').all('.block').size() > 0),
-                c : 'side-pre-only'
-            },
-            post: {
-                hasblocks : (M.core_dock.Y.one('#region-post') && M.core_dock.Y.one('#region-post').all('.block').size() > 0),
-                c : 'side-post-only'
-            },
-            noblocksc:'content-only'
-        }
-        
-        if (blockregions.pre.hasblocks && blockregions.post.hasblocks) {
-            // No classes required both regions have blocks
-            M.core_dock.Y.one(document.body).removeClass(blockregions.pre.c).removeClass(blockregions.post.c).removeClass(blockregions.noblocksc);
-        } else if (blockregions.pre.hasblocks) {
-            // side-pre-only required: remove any other classes
-            M.core_dock.Y.one(document.body).addClass(blockregions.pre.c).removeClass(blockregions.post.c).removeClass(blockregions.noblocksc);
-        } else if (blockregions.post.hasblocks) {
-            // side-post-only required: remove any other classes
-            M.core_dock.Y.one(document.body).removeClass(blockregions.pre.c).addClass(blockregions.post.c).removeClass(blockregions.noblocksc);
-        } else {
-            // All blocks have been docked: add noblocks remove side-xxx-only's if set
-            M.core_dock.Y.one(document.body).removeClass(blockregions.pre.c).removeClass(blockregions.post.c).addClass(blockregions.noblocksc);
-        }
-        return '200px';
-    }
     return true;
 }
\ No newline at end of file