Create a new field to Match my Mail Chimp Fields

> As you can see, it doesn't fit. Plus, my Mailchip list
> does not include a Last Name field and I want to get
> rid of it altogether.

To match the "name" in your form to the "name" you have set up in Mailchimp, don't use the "Advanced field" of "name" (which asks for first & last name.) Remove that field from your form and use a Standard field (single line text) and give it a Title of "Name". Then map that to your Mailchimp name field.

> Another problem, even though I've specified top alignment
> on the form, in the sidebar the form is left aligned.

The top alignment setting you used is for label placement, not the layout of the form. You can leave that set to "top alignment" and your form will be laid out like this once all the formatting is done (top placement is the default):

Name*
[                      ]

The fields in the widget are laid out differently when I view in Chrome and Firefox.

The problem with the alignment in the widget is due to styles being set for all form elements in your site's style.css.

> Once I am able to create a First Name field in Gravity
> Forms (which is the field that the Mail Chimp list uses)
> how in the world do I style the text and create a
> background. I seriously wish this was an option in
> Gravity Forms. Do I have to add CSS code to the custom
> CSS in my theme? Or is there a place where I can edit
> the code from the Gravity Forms Widget directly?

Add this to your site's custom.css to remove the bullets, which should allow the fields to align properly.

.gravityformswidget .gform_wrapper .gform_body ul li {
	list-style-type:none;
}

To style the text and create a background, you will need to add additional CSS to your site's custom.css. You can read about targetting the specific elements here.

> If the Gravity Forms Widget plugin isn't a good idea --
> in that it won't translate the proper form settings to
> the sidebar -- how the heck does one get a form in a
> sidebar widget? I can cut and paste code but where do
> I find that code? Thanks for your help.

The Gravity Forms widget will work fine once you override the styles that are being added by your theme. Adding a form in a different sidebar widget won't be any better as your Canvas theme will override the layout there too. Start by making a few small additions to your custom.css to override the Canvas CSS.