i made my first site in 2000 using MS office 2000 pro. i used word to lay out my pages and saved them as html. is a really easy way to do it.
nowdays i use the MX studio bundle which includes dreamweaver, fireworks etc. i did a couple of years at college using this and its a bit more complicated.
as for a domain name, go for a .co.uk or .net
theres plenty of hosting companies out there. try not to go for a reseller as they tend to get fed up with it and leave you with no hosting/website. this happened to me a few times.
i use this company and have no probs with them.
http://www.3ix.org/one_dollar_web_hosting.phpyou get a years hosting for one website for $12. payable with a credit card or paypal.
includes 40gb webspace and 100gb a month of bandwidth. you also get 50 email accounts with this if you need them.
you need to have bought your domain name before you can use this package as you have to assign the domain name when you order this.
hope that helps