Everything in Crystal is an object. This applies to text fields, data fields, and calculated fields. Every object has properties. All properties are accessed in the same way. This makes it easier to line up information but harder to change it.
Crystal uses guide lines and fields snap to the guidelines.
You can move fields by moving the guidelines. A real advantage once you get used to it. Totals for the top N can be done using conditional totals. However, beware of grand totals. Unless you do use running totals, they will show the total of all records not just the top N. More on this later.