Is there a software program that will open a php file in htlm so I can edit it? What is the best way to edit php index page.
Notepad++ is what I use, and consider the best to edit PHP with. Though HTML (assuming you mean that with "htlm") and PHP are two different langs, you will have to edit what the PHP file outputs in order to 'edit' the HTML. Being an index file I bet that will be easy. Also be careful you do edit it, I've seen people who don't know anything about PHP mess up by not closing their qoutes or inadvertently causing their script to crash by not escaping them.
PHP script produces HTML code. You can use any text editor to open and edit PHP file. PHP interpretor translate PHP code into HTML code. You need to understand what PHP is.