In the red circle in the image below,
using auto format adds a space between = and $.
How do you remove that space so that
it looks like <?=$foo on auto format?
Additional question: How do you disable those green highlights
(circled in green) for HTML code? What does those highlights mean anyway?

Add
Netbeans has fixed this issue at least in version
7.1.2(possibly earlier but definitely not on 7.0.1 ).To fix go to: Tools > Options > Formatting > PHP > Spaces > Uncheck
After Short PHP TagandBefore Close PHP Tag