>> stevealb
Centering? I don't think it was ever centered, but I'll check.
The main change was to give widgets fixed size rather than "as large as the particular launcher / home screen allows" -- which looked terrible on Note type devices (large screen, four icons per row).
>> higher than every other icon
Widgets layouts are specified by their respective apps. Home screen icons are rendered by the particular home screen launcher on a particular device.
Matching them perfectly, for all devices, is simply not possible. Make it better on one device, and it gets worse on others.
I would appreciate a screenshot though, since I don't happen to have a Nexus 6.