Control of Contents Icon spacing in skins?

I'm working with our graphics designer on a custom skin for WebHelp, and he's wondering if there is any way to control the spacing between the left nav icons in the Contents? You can control the items like font size, but not the actual spacing, so far as we can tell.Do we need to control this by putting a clear margin around the icons?

Also, am I correct in assuming the top toolbar area is a static field (can't be made taller or have the placement of the About box moved)?

Jane