/3/ - 3DCG

I have two questions, both related to pic.
First
>Marked seams
>Unwrapped
>SX0 and SY0 where need be
>Face select
>Chose resized face
>Ctrl+L
>Follow active quads
>Everything stretches
Why is this? I've watched I can't tell you how many videos and every time someone else does it everything goes perfect with no stretching and everything is laid out nicely.

Secondly, why does so much space get wasted with packing the UV? I watched someone else do it and they just resized the islands, then packed the UV and everything fit perfectly. I try to do that and it just goes back to the way it was.