What's the easiest/fast way to get my website up and running on the web?

Question

This is probably a really really beginner's question, but I would like to know what's the fastest way to get my site on the web so that people can start using it.

I'm learning everything about programming out of books and at home so I don't have much experience.

-->Before I go to like godaddy.com or such site to get a domain name, is there any free sites that would allow me to upload my site so users can use it? I have html,css,php,mysql,javascipt in my scripts so I don't think many sites allow free uploads with such languages.

-->If I can't find a free site, is there any good places to get a domain name and web hosting that supports most languages at a low price? (doesn't have to be professional hosting because I am still a beginner)

-->If I go to say godaddy.com and get their webhosting and domain name, would I be allowed to run php,mysql,python,java on it? (I looked at some hosting sites and most only allow php/mysql)

Answer 1

Go with Dreamhost.com and you can register your domain name and host at the same place. You get all the googies like PHP, MySQL, ftp, ssh. Plus "one-click" installs of Joomla, Wordpress, etc.. You get CRAZY amounts of disk and bandwidth, lots of mailboxes, and there's complete integration with GMail, if you want to use GMail for your mail handling. And you can hang a bunch of domains under one account. http://www.dreamhost.com/hosting.html I've been with them for 5+ years, and they're very solid for hosting at this price level ($8.95/month).
Note: my main site (ClipMate.com) is hosted on Pair, as I need high availability and high capacity, and can justify $80/month for that site. I use Dreamhost for smaller jobs, Church, scouts, family site, etc.. Happily, all of my stuff is portable between the two platforms.

Answer 2

I really like Wordpress. In case you go with a host that doesn't provide you the one-click-installs Chris Thornton mentioned, you can download and install it manually, which is pretty easy, as long as your host can run PHP and have a database access.
And there's also Google Sites. I'm not sure if you can create custom templates for it, but as far as i know, it's very user friendly.