Other than basic python syntax, what other key areas should I learn to get a website live?
Is there a web.config in the python world?
Which libraries handle things like authentication? or is that all done manually via session cookies and database tables?
Are there any web specific libraries?
Edit: sorry! I am well versed in asp.net, I want to branch out and learn Python, hence this question (sorry, terrible start to this question I know).
Basic Python syntax isn't half of what you need to know.
All of the Python built-in data structures.
Object-oriented design.
What python module and packages are.
The Python libraries -- almost everything you could ever want has already been written.
To name a few things.
If you've done some web development, you probably have some background in HTTP protocol, HTML, .CSS and Javascript and SQL.
You should use a framework to handle the endless collection of mundane details, like authentication. Look at Django.
Oh, golly.
Look, this is gonna be real hard to answer because, read as you wrote it, you're missing a lot of steps. Like, you need a web server, a design, some HTML, and so on.
Are you building from the ground up? Asking about Python makes me suspect you may be using something like Zope.
Answer replaced to correspond with the updated question.
If you're already familiar with ASP.NET, the easiest way to jump into creating a website with Python is probably to look into one of the major web frameworks. Django is very popular, working through the installation guide and the tutorial will probably get you rolling pretty well.
Really though, I'd personally suggest at least learning the language itself to a basic competency level before trying to dive right into using it inside a web framework. I think you'll be trying to force yourself to learn too much at once. In terms of just learning Python, the free book Dive Into Python is always spoken of highly.
Don't forget to give IronPython a try - your .NET experience can help making sense of newly learned Python idioms.
IronPython is an implementation of the Python programming language running under .NET and Silverlight. It supports an interactive console with fully dynamic compilation. It's well integrated with the rest of the .NET Framework and makes all .NET libraries easily available to Python programmers, while maintaining compatibility with the Python language.
Of course the builtins. And become familiar with the standard library (until you start to remember what's in it, I'd suggest looking through it any time you're about to implement something... It might be there already!)
You'll want some kind of framework, I'd recommend Django or TurboGears
But you also need to learn the pythonic-way. For this, open up a Python interpreter and type:
import this