If you set Altitude and Additional Height to 0, then the first layer will start at the homing height set by the endstop. This way you can eyeball the first layer and control the squish by adjusting the screw. This is a quicker way to dial it in than reslicing every time with SF.
If you want to be more objective about it, you can set the endstop to home directly on the bed. Then set Altitude to 0 and Additional Height Over Layer Thickness to 1. This would make the first layer the same as all other layers at your set layer height.
If you are doing a raft, you would make it wider by turning up the flow, or increasing Base Layer Thickness Over Layer Thickness. If you aren't using a raft, you can turn up the Object First Layer flow rate or turn down the feed rate to create a wider extrusion. This will give you a wider thread for the first layer, giving more area for sticking, without reducing the height of the first layer like you do when squishing with the Z screw. If the height of the model needs to be dimensionally accurate to .1mm, this would be the way to go. However I don't think Skeinforge will know what the actual extrusion width of the first layer will be, so there may be a bit of a lip at the bottom.
In Slic3r, it can be a good idea to home directly on the platform. Set the first layer height directly to .3. If you are printing at .3, then that makes it the same as the rest of the print. If you are printing at .1mm a first layer of .3 will help smooth out any irregularities in the print bed.
To improve stick, you can tell Slic3r to use a much larger Extrusion Width for the first layer to create more surface area for sticking. Since Slic3r knows how wide the first layer extrusion is supposed to be, it will account for that in the toolpath. As a result, you should be able to get an extra wide base layer without getting a lip on the bottom of the print like you get when squishing it mechanically.
The trick to this is setting the endstop to home on the bed. When you get down to tenths of a millimeter, it can be really hard to see if it is touching. If you see the nozzle rise up a bit, it is probably already pushing, which is more than you want.
If you are printing on aluminum with kapton, you can use a multimeter to find out when the nozzle touches, by having the nozzle and bed complete a circuit. I demonstrated this in a video here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXhD2MQRs4A
If you are printing on glass, you could tape a metal feeler gauge to the bed and touch the lead to that. Then when you are done adjusting the endstop, it will be at a known height. You could turn the screw the right amount to adjust it the rest of the way, or compensate in software. In Slic3r you would do this with Z Offset, and in Skeinforge you would use Altitude.