Difference between Pathfinder>Unite and Make Compound shape

I am trying to figure out the difference between uniting with the pathfinder tool and making something into a compound shape which is an option on the pathfinder tab section. I know with unite you can get shapes into one but what is the point of compounding it to a shape and then expanding? Isn't it the same?

In Illustrator how to maintain an assigned graphic style after using Live Paint Bucket

In Illustrator, I noticed that any graphic styles assigned to various paths are removed when the Live Paint Bucket is applied. For example, I initially have the following:

Notice I have the "Green stroke" graphic style applied. When you select the path, the "Green stroke" highlights in the Graphic Styles panel. I then go on to use the Live Paint Bucket:

When I then select the same path, the "Green stroke" graphic style is not applied. Yes, the appearance does not change, but the path is no longer associated with the specific graphic style. (In addition, if I then reapply the "Green stroke" graphic style, it applies it to all paths making up the Live Paint group including the red rectangle.)

If I then try expanding the Live Paint group, same result. The graphic style is not associated:

Is there a way to maintain the graphic style assignments or apply different ones to individual paths after Live Paint Bucket is used?

How to make perfectly rounded curls using AI CS4?

I'm working on this Contact-us icon:

And I wanna make the wire of the phone now, I first thougt of using circles then linking them with the Pen tool, but i kinda feel this solution is not that smart ...

How to make a rounded edged art board in Adobe Illustrator?

I am trying to create a save the date invitation. The bride wants the invitations to have rounded edges of about .5 inches. Is this something I can do to the art board itself, or do I just create a rounded edge rectangle, put my art on that, and specify to the printers how to cut the art?

Blurry Vector Images

I am creating simple, clean designs in Illustrator, but when saved as .jpegs or .pngs and placed in an InDesign file at 100% resolution they are blurry as heck. I'm an amateur designer - please help :(

Add stroke to internal lines in mesh objects

I am trying to create a fishing net in adobe illustrator. I have created an ellipse object and created the mesh but adding a stroke via the appearance panel only does it to the border of the mesh object not the internal lines (see the picture below). How can I add a stroke to the internal lines to create a net appearance? If this is not possible with the mesh tool how would you create a net in illustrator?

Choose new font encoding

I'm about to make a new font and I'm not sure which encoding to use. I will only have latin characters + some custom ligatures + alternate versions + small capitals.

Should I use ISO-8859-1 with additional characters or Unicode ?

If using Unicode, all the codes seem to be dedicated to some usage. The codes exist for the small capitals. But where to place the alternate characters versions and the extra ligatures ? Are there some rules for that ?