Sortables using UI 1.5b - the old empty columns problem

Sortables using UI 1.5b - the old empty columns problem


Hi, I know this has been asked before, but I'm yet to see an answer
which actually works...I thought a fresh thread which hasn't been
contaminated with other questions would be useful.
I have a three-column portal-style layout. When a column is emptied of
sortable items it's not possible to drag items back into it.
They are three individual columns which share a common class, i.e. one
sortable instance (as opposed to three different sortables which are
connected with connectWith).
I've tried the dummy, invisible item as suggested by a couple of
people, but this is unreliable in that sortables may be dragged above
or below this item, plus the drop sensitivity is poor/weird, which
makes finding the drop area a thing of luck. Also, dummy items are
unsemantic, which is something I'm keen to avoid.
I heard something about 'dropOnEmpty', but this doesn't appear to be
available in the current release.
I could prevent the final portlet from being dragged out of a column,
but this isn't really what I want to do.
Does anyone know how I can resolve this issue in the current release?
Is connectWith the solution (or does this have the same 'empty'
problem)? Will the issue be resolved in a future release? (And if so,
when is the release likely to be?)
Thanks for your help...and also thanks for the bloody amazing
javascript library. I gotta say: it's revolutionised the way I write
websites.
Cheers,
Steve