For the sub-category display, you can change, via template, the box that surrounds the text links of sub-categories, but the text links themselves are contained in one variable, so without code changes, there is no other option to affect the layout. It would take some work to get the sub-category links to look like the main category list.
While I do appreciate the offer of money and can certainly understand the need for an FTP import file feature, I'm not taking pay for custom requests that are slated to be released in the next version anyway. The unfortunate bit is that I cannot give you a date of release as it depends on how schedules, coding, and testing progress. Sorry.
