[eluser]PhilTem[/eluser]
I can understand your concerns but did you have a look at other CMS' download size? They're usually several MBs. Most of which comes from JS, CSS or img-files. The actual code can be kept to small sizes e.g. by removing comments and removing white lines. Sure these fixes don't really impact on having 20 files but if you're having 500+ files each with an overhead (due to comments or whitelines) of 5kB it just sums up.
What you should think about when releasing downloads or your CMS: Do you really need all your image files? Or can you create a sprite? Do you need every size from 64x64 to 12x12 or just some of these sizes?
BTW: Did you look at the CI download? Half the size is the user's guide, 1.3MB the actual Codeigniter core and 500kB the application folder. The biggest contributor to that size is - I guess - the index.html (directory access forbidden files) in every folder of ./application
