This is not possible to my knowledge. It only works in dynamic word wrap mode.
No, there is no way to get the old behavior back. You can bind a shortcut to "Show Terminal" btw, it automatically toggles then and should have the focus set in the right way.
Use the right highlighting in Tools > Highlighting. You can optionally also adapt the priority of highlighting definition files in Kate's configure dialog, in the "Highlighting" page.
Ok, for the KDE 3.3.1 users who need some php5 keywords, do the following: Configure Kate > Highlighting -> Download... Select PHP/PHP ( should be version 1.18 ). Click the "Install" button and then restart kate. New keywords in Version 1.18 are: abstract, catch, final, implements, interface, parent, private, protected, public, self, throw, try