[Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, A] Ticklefish:
So the first thing we need to do is apply the Best Method to your code, which gives us this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.PhoneStatusBarView android:orientation="vertical" android:background="@drawable/status_bar_background" android:focusable="true" android:descendantFocusability="afterDescendants"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:systemui="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/com.android.systemui">
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/icons" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:paddingRight="6.0dip" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<LinearLayout android:id="@+id/statusbarleftside" android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="0dip" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.StatusBarIconView android:id="@id/moreIcon" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:src="@drawable/stat_notify_more" />
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.IconMerger android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/notificationIcons" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_alignParentLeft="true" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
<RelativeLayout android:id="@+id/statusbarrightside" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<LinearLayout android:id="@+id/statusbarinsiderightside" android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_alignParentRight="true">
<LinearLayout android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/statusIcons" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" />
<ImageView android:layout_gravity="center_vertical" android:id="@id/stat_no_sim" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<LinearLayout android:gravity="center" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/signal_battery_cluster" android:paddingLeft="2.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent">
[COLOR="Red"]	<include android:id="@id/signal_cluster" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" layout="@layout/signal_cluster_view" />
[/COLOR]	<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.BatteryPercentage" android:layout_gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/battery_text" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="@string/status_bar_settings_settings_button" android:singleLine="true" style="@style/StatusBarNotificationText" />
<ImageView android:id="@id/battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
[COLOR="green"]	<com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Clock" android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/clock" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:singleLine="true" />
[/COLOR]	</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/ticker" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:animationCache="false" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<ImageSwitcher android:id="@id/tickerIcon" android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_marginRight="4.0dip">
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.AnimatedImageView android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:scaleType="center" />
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.AnimatedImageView android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:scaleType="center" />
</ImageSwitcher>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.TickerView android:id="@id/tickerText" android:paddingTop="2.0dip" android:paddingRight="10.0dip" android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.PhoneTicker" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.PhoneTicker" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />
</com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.TickerView>
</LinearLayout>
</com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.PhoneStatusBarView>

Now we can start moving things around.

You want the signal icon, or signal cluster, on the left and the clock in the center. In the above code the signal cluster is the line in red and the clock is the line in green.

So we just need to move those like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.PhoneStatusBarView android:orientation="vertical" android:background="@drawable/status_bar_background" android:focusable="true" android:descendantFocusability="afterDescendants"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:systemui="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/com.android.systemui">
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/icons" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:paddingRight="6.0dip" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<LinearLayout android:id="@+id/statusbarleftside" android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="0dip" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.StatusBarIconView android:id="@id/moreIcon" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:src="@drawable/stat_notify_more" />
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.IconMerger android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/notificationIcons" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_alignParentLeft="true" />
</LinearLayout>
[COLOR="Red"]	<include android:id="@id/signal_cluster" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" layout="@layout/signal_cluster_view" />[/COLOR]
</LinearLayout>
[COLOR="Green"]	<com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Clock" android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/clock" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:singleLine="true" />
[/COLOR]	<RelativeLayout android:id="@+id/statusbarrightside" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<LinearLayout android:id="@+id/statusbarinsiderightside" android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_alignParentRight="true">
<LinearLayout android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/statusIcons" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" />
<ImageView android:layout_gravity="center_vertical" android:id="@id/stat_no_sim" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<LinearLayout android:gravity="center" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/signal_battery_cluster" android:paddingLeft="2.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.BatteryPercentage" android:layout_gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/battery_text" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="@string/status_bar_settings_settings_button" android:singleLine="true" style="@style/StatusBarNotificationText" />
<ImageView android:id="@id/battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/ticker" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:animationCache="false" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<ImageSwitcher android:id="@id/tickerIcon" android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_marginRight="4.0dip">
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.AnimatedImageView android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:scaleType="center" />
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.AnimatedImageView android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:scaleType="center" />
</ImageSwitcher>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.TickerView android:id="@id/tickerText" android:paddingTop="2.0dip" android:paddingRight="10.0dip" android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.PhoneTicker" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.PhoneTicker" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />
</com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.TickerView>
</LinearLayout>
</com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.PhoneStatusBarView>

I've also removed the padding parameter from the clock.

So far so good. But you also wanted to make the clock smaller. There are a few different ways you can do this. You could edit the style, you could add a TextSize parameter..but I think what you're best off doing is making it the same size as your battery text. So change:

<com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock [COLOR="Red"]android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Clock" [/COLOR]android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/clock" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:singleLine="true" />

to:

<com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock [color="red"]android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.BatteryPercentage"[/color] android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/clock" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:singleLine="true" />

And you also wanted to make the statusbar itself a bit smaller. That's a bit trickier.

You need to decompile framework-res.apk and edit res\values\dimens.xml. There's a line there that looks something like:

<dimen name="status_bar_height">25.0dip</dimen>

Change that and the statusbar height will change as well.

BUT you will also need to change this line as well:

<dimen name="status_bar_icon_size">24.0dip</dimen>

BUT if you're using a Sony rom, your recompiled framework-res.apk won't actually work. You can either try to remove the dependencies, which isn't much fun, or you need to decompile system/vendor/overlay/android-res.apk. Once decompiled, copy dimens.xml across to android-res.apk\res\values\, remove all the "<dimen" lines you don't want, change the ones you do, save and recompile as normal.

BUT there's no guarantee that this will work properly. There's a chance that some of your apps might react badly to a smaller, or bigger, than normal statusbar and fc. So make sure you make a backup first!