It isn't really possible to alter how text strings work without patching JJ2 itself, no. Creating a feature that automatically adds the correct amount of |'s might be possible, though (an option that displays text strings differently?).
What do you mean by "updated events"?

I think you could use the part of the animation area that isn't used by animations (its size depends on the static tile count field). I'm not sure, though, as I haven't ever tested it.