The code snippet provided by the OP has worked for me.
Since Zend_Layout follows the two-step view pattern, the inner view is
rendered first (which has the call to appendStylesheet()) and then the
layout is rendered (which has a call to prependStylesheet()). So the order
of things should look like this:
Controller (or view) calls appendStylesheet('/c/css/homepage.css')
Stylesheet stack looks like ['/c/css/homepage.css']
Layout calls prependStylesheet('/c/css/loader.css')
Stylesheet stack looks like ['/c/css/loader.css', '/c/css/homepage.css']
End result should be loader.css followed by homepage.css. I'm not sure why
the OP is getting different results. More detail on the code snippet might
be useful.
--
*Hector Virgen*
Sr. Web Developer
http://www.virgentech.com