diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/_test/tokens_php.json b/lib/ace/mode/_test/tokens_php.json
index 13dfbea4..8de22fe6 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/_test/tokens_php.json
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/_test/tokens_php.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "<?php"
   ],
@@ -9,12 +9,12 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [],
   "types": []
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "function",
    " ",
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "    ",
    "if",
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "        ",
    "return",
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "    ",
    "}"
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "    ",
    "else",
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "        ",
    "return",
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "    ",
    "}"
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "}"
   ],
@@ -170,12 +170,12 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [],
   "types": []
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "echo",
    " ",
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "$num",
    " ",
@@ -291,12 +291,12 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [],
   "types": []
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "// ===== PROCESS - Determing the factorial of the input number ====="
   ],
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "$output",
    " ",
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [
    "echo",
    " ",
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@
   ]
  },
  {
-  "state": "start",
+  "state": "php-start",
   "values": [],
   "types": []
  },
diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
index 424dbfe3..54d434e7 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/php_highlight_rules.js
@@ -43,8 +43,9 @@ var oop = require("../lib/oop");
 var lang = require("../lib/lang");
 var DocCommentHighlightRules = require("./doc_comment_highlight_rules").DocCommentHighlightRules;
 var TextHighlightRules = require("./text_highlight_rules").TextHighlightRules;
+var HtmlHighlightRules = require("./html_highlight_rules").HtmlHighlightRules;
 
-var PhpHighlightRules = function() {
+var PhpLangHighlightRules = function() {
     var docComment = DocCommentHighlightRules;
     // http://php.net/quickref.php
     var builtinFunctions = lang.arrayToMap(
@@ -904,33 +905,6 @@ var PhpHighlightRules = function() {
 
     this.$rules = {
         "start" : [
-            {
-                token : "support.php_tag", // php open tag
-                regex : "<\\?(?:php|\\=)"
-            },
-            {
-                token : "support.php_tag", // php close tag
-                regex : "\\?>"
-            },
-            {
-                token : "comment",
-                regex : "<\\!--",
-                next : "htmlcomment"
-            }, 
-            {
-                token : "meta.tag",
-                regex : "<style",
-                next : "css"
-            },
-            {
-                token : "meta.tag", // opening tag
-                regex : "<\\/?[-_a-zA-Z0-9:]+",
-                next : "htmltag"
-            },
-            {
-                token : 'meta.tag',
-                regex : '<\!DOCTYPE.*?>'
-            },
             {
                 token : "comment",
                 regex : "\\/\\/.*$"
@@ -1063,103 +1037,39 @@ var PhpHighlightRules = function() {
                 token : "string",
                 regex : ".+?"
             }
-        ],
-        "htmlcomment" : [
-            {
-                token : "comment",
-                regex : ".*?-->",
-                next : "start"
-            }, {
-                token : "comment",
-                regex : ".+"
-            } 
-         ],
-         "htmltag" : [ 
-             {
-                 token : "meta.tag",
-                 regex : ">",
-                 next : "start"
-             }, {
-                 token : "text",
-                 regex : "[-_a-zA-Z0-9:]+"
-             }, {
-                 token : "text",
-                 regex : "\\s+"
-             }, {
-                 token : "string",
-                 regex : '".*?"'
-             }, {
-                 token : "string",
-                 regex : "'.*?'"
-             } 
-         ],
-        "css" : [ 
-             {
-                 token : "meta.tag",
-                 regex : "<\/style>",
-                 next : "htmltag"
-             }, {
-                 token : "meta.tag",
-                 regex : ">"
-             }, {
-                 token : 'text',
-                 regex : "(?:media|type|href)"
-             }, {
-                 token : 'string',
-                 regex : '=".*?"'
-             }, {
-                 token : "paren.lparen",
-                 regex : "\{",
-                 next : "cssdeclaration"
-             }, {
-                 token : "keyword",
-                 regex : "#[A-Za-z0-9\-\_\.]+"
-             }, {
-                 token : "variable",
-                 regex : "\\.[A-Za-z0-9\-\_\.]+"
-             }, {
-                 token : "constant",
-                 regex : "[A-Za-z0-9]+"
-             }
-         ],
-         "cssdeclaration" : [
-             {
-                 token : "support.type",
-                 regex : "[\-a-zA-Z]+",
-                 next  : "cssvalue"
-             }, 
-             {
-                 token : "paren.rparen",
-                 regex : '\}',
-                 next : "css"
-             }
-         ],
-         "cssvalue" : [
-               {
-                   token : "text",
-                   regex : "\:"
-               }, 
-               {
-                   token : "constant",
-                   regex : "#[0-9a-zA-Z]+"
-               },
-               {
-                   token : "text",
-                   regex : "[\-\_0-9a-zA-Z\"' ,%]+"
-               },
-               {
-                   token : "text",
-                   regex : ";",
-                   next : "cssdeclaration"
-               }
-         ]
+        ]
     };
 
     this.embedRules(DocCommentHighlightRules, "doc-",
         [ DocCommentHighlightRules.getEndRule("start") ]);
 };
 
+oop.inherits(PhpLangHighlightRules, TextHighlightRules);
+
+
+var PhpHighlightRules = function() {
+    this.$rules = new HtmlHighlightRules().getRules();
+
+    for (var i in this.$rules) {
+        this.$rules[i].unshift({
+            token : "support.php_tag", // php open tag
+            regex : "<\\?(?:php|\\=)",
+            next  : "php-start"
+        });
+    }
+
+    this.embedRules(PhpLangHighlightRules, "php-");
+
+    this.$rules["php-start"].unshift({
+        token : "support.php_tag", // php close tag
+        regex : "\\?>",
+        next  : "start"
+    });
+};
+
 oop.inherits(PhpHighlightRules, TextHighlightRules);
 
+
+
 exports.PhpHighlightRules = PhpHighlightRules;
 });