diff --git a/src/Orchard/Mvc/Html/LayoutExtensions.cs b/src/Orchard/Mvc/Html/LayoutExtensions.cs
index 1016bd857..937d960d8 100644
--- a/src/Orchard/Mvc/Html/LayoutExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Orchard/Mvc/Html/LayoutExtensions.cs
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ namespace Orchard.Mvc.Html {
         }
 
         public static void Zone<TModel>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> html, string zoneName, string partitions) where TModel : BaseViewModel {
-            //is IoC necessary for this to work properly?
+            //TODO: is IoC necessary for this to work properly?
             var manager = new ZoneManager();
             manager.Render(html, html.ViewData.Model.Zones, zoneName, partitions);
         }
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ namespace Orchard.Mvc.Html {
         }
 
         public static void Zone<TModel>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> html, string zoneName, Action action) where TModel : BaseViewModel {
+            //TODO: again, IoC could move this AddAction (or similar) method out of the data-bearing object
             html.ViewData.Model.Zones.AddAction(zoneName, x => action());
             Zone(html, zoneName, string.Empty);
         }
diff --git a/src/Orchard/UI/Zones/ZoneCollection.cs b/src/Orchard/UI/Zones/ZoneCollection.cs
index a2b576309..644c9248b 100644
--- a/src/Orchard/UI/Zones/ZoneCollection.cs
+++ b/src/Orchard/UI/Zones/ZoneCollection.cs
@@ -12,6 +12,32 @@ namespace Orchard.UI.Zones {
 
         }
         public void AddAction(string location, Action<HtmlHelper> action) {
+            AddZoneItem(location, new DelegateZoneItem { Action = action });
+        }
+
+        private void AddZoneItem(string location, ZoneItem item) {
+            string zoneName;
+            var position = string.Empty;
+
+            var colonIndex = location.IndexOf(':');
+            if (colonIndex == -1) {
+                zoneName = location.Trim();
+            }
+            else {
+                zoneName = location.Substring(0, colonIndex).Trim();
+                position = location.Substring(colonIndex + 1).Trim();
+            }
+
+            item.Position = position;
+            ZoneEntry entry;
+            if (TryGetValue(zoneName, out entry)) {
+                entry.Items.Add(item);
+            }
+            else {
+                entry = new ZoneEntry { ZoneName = zoneName, Items = new List<ZoneItem>() };
+                Add(zoneName, entry);
+                entry.Items.Add(item);
+            }
 
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/Orchard/UI/Zones/ZoneManager.cs b/src/Orchard/UI/Zones/ZoneManager.cs
index 0a31b4714..42528ceb7 100644
--- a/src/Orchard/UI/Zones/ZoneManager.cs
+++ b/src/Orchard/UI/Zones/ZoneManager.cs
@@ -12,14 +12,49 @@ namespace Orchard.UI.Zones {
             if (!zones.TryGetValue(zoneName, out zone))
                 return;
 
-            //TODO: partitions
-            foreach (var item in zone.Items) {
-                if (item.WasExecuted)
-                    continue;
+            var partitionItems = LocatePartitionItems(partitions, zone);
+
+            foreach (var partitionItem in partitionItems) {
+                foreach (var item in zone.Items) {
+                    if (item.WasExecuted)
+                        continue;
+
+                    item.WasExecuted = true;
+                    item.Execute(html);
+                }
 
-                item.WasExecuted = true;
-                item.Execute(html);
             }
         }
+
+        private IEnumerable<PartitionItem> LocatePartitionItems(string partitions, ZoneEntry zone) {
+
+            var partitionCodes = (":before " + partitions + " :* :after").Split(new[] { ' ' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
+
+            var itemsRemaining = zone.Items.Where(x => x.WasExecuted == false);
+
+            PartitionItem catchAllItem = null;
+
+            var results = new List<PartitionItem>();
+            foreach (var code in partitionCodes) {
+                if (code == ":*") {
+                    catchAllItem=new PartitionItem();
+                    results.Add(catchAllItem);
+                }
+                else {
+                    var value = code;
+                    var items = itemsRemaining.Where(x => (":" + x.Position).StartsWith(value));
+                    results.Add(new PartitionItem { ZoneItems = items.ToArray() });
+                    itemsRemaining = itemsRemaining.Except(items).ToArray();
+                }
+            }
+            if (catchAllItem != null) {
+                catchAllItem.ZoneItems = itemsRemaining;
+            }
+            return results;
+        }
+
+        class PartitionItem {
+            public IEnumerable<ZoneItem> ZoneItems { get; set; }
+        }
     }
 }