Hello! I hope you're not doing this for money... there's no money in making websites anymore (at least not unless you're an exceptionally great CG artist or a masterful programmer). Anyway... let's move on...
Do you have a cable or highspeed connection and not anticipating very high traffic? If so, simply download Apache and run it on a computer that will stay turned on and online at all times. Apache is really easy--all you have to do is install it, then look in the configuration file to decide which folder you want as your "website" (like, say, you have your HTML pages and images in C:\website\, you can tell Apache to point it to that. It's simpler than you think)
As for a domain name, there are plenty of cheap suppliers. I got one for $30 for two years, forgot my supplier though and I'm too lazy to do a whois on myself. Anyway, you can buy a domain name, and then pay for a subscription (usually about $30 an year or so) to have a domain forwarded to your computer's IP. Apache will automatically point requests to your website on your computer.
As for software, try doing your HTML in
Textpad, which is free (of course, you should register for a mere $20 since it's a wonderful text editor). There's actually a free Photoshop wannabe called GIMP if you don't want to shell out several hundred for Photoshop--they have virtually all of the same commands... a bit less powerful, and its image scaling is a bit worse, but wonderful for most websites' needs.
Anyway, the above is the cheap version. $35 registration + 40/yr DNS forwarding = $75.to run your website for two years.
wow!! thats some great advice! I'll definetly look into all that ASAP. Thank you very much N-X!
Hello! I hope you're not doing this for money... there's no money in making websites anymore (at least not unless you're an exceptionally great CG artist or a masterful programmer). Anyway... let's move on... Indeed! How is it that I make a nice living merely redesigning corporate websites (completely aside from my 3D and video work)? No money in it? Who do you think designs and produces all the web pages we see every day? Robots? There is a tremendous opportunity and will remain as such for as long as there is the web, given that an individual has talent and cuts out a niche, as with all business endeavors.