  We study the interplay of interaction, confining potential and effects of
finite temperature at the edge of a quantum Hall liquid. Our exact
diagonalization calculation indicates that edge reconstruction occurs in the
fractional quantum Hall regime for a variety of confining potential, including
ones that correspond to a "sharp" edge. Our finite temperature Hartree-Fock
calculation for integer quantum Hall edges indicates that reconstruction is
suppressed above certain temperature. We discuss the implication of our results
on recent edge tunneling and microwave absorption experiments.
