[dub713]

if you search around in all associated files to the file you're working on, you may see something that looks like this...

{$cellpadding|default:"5"}

it's in the tpl's and not in the css. i can't remember how many i saw, and in what files. the one i do remember is in menu.tpl but i'm not sure if that's going to affect what you're working on, but at least you know to keep an eye out for hard coded values that look like that. the 5 could be any number though.

for the gap in between things, you need to check all associated files for any element that ends, and has a <br> after it. also keep an eye out for < /p> tags. remove it, test. if nothing happened, put it back, save, and refresh. removing elements on one page that don't affect that page could affect another. so if you don't see a change when removing something, put it back unless you know for a fact you don't need it.