I understand what you mean, but ask any windows user and they'll tell you that you don't need a php server installed to preview html pages (named .php) which contain php code.
OK, hopefully this will help break the "no you can't / yes you can" thread that's going to start any minute.
What you're got are a bunch of files that end in .php - these files contain a mix of both HTML and PHP code.
Under Windows XP, you were able to open those files up in a browser. The browser *ignored* the PHP embedded in the files and just displayed the HTML.
The people saying "You can't do that!" mean that a browser won't interpret PHP code - you need a PHP-enabled webserver to do that (hence the various calls for you to install MAMP, etc). They're correct in saying you need the server if you want to view the output of your files/code accurately, because otherwise the PHP won't run.
But, if you're just interested in what the embedded html looks like, then yes you are correct - a browser can view the file and ignore the code surrounded by <?php ?> tags.
Now, the reason it isn't working for you is that the browser doesn't recognize your PHP files as containing valid text/html (rightly so - the MIME type is incorrect)... so Safari just displays the source.
As others have suggested, probably the easiest thing to do is set the MIME type for .php files to text/html. If you're using FireFox, there are a number of plugins that allow you to add/edit MIME types.
You may also want to look into text editors with live HTML/PHP preview capabilities. Panic's Coda editor for example (
http://www.panic.com) will allow you to open and edit your PHP files with a live preview - and can even run the PHP in your files via a local copy of the PHP interpreter. Code isn't free, but it's a nice package. There are several other editors w/live preview modes out there as well - but you'll have to do some digging, their names escape me at the moment.
