What is the best way to make and host a web site?

My father has a business and I would like to make a website for him I used to know some html but have forgotten it from lack of use. I have a Macbook with Tiger on it which includes iWeb. I like the program but it seems to lack something. I would like to start out cheap with creation and with hosting. I plan on starting out hosting the site on my PC with Windows XP on it but I would like to create and maintain the website from my Macbook. What would you recommend should I host it or should I get it hosted? What is the best program to use or should I learn html again?

I would most def have it hosted. Esp if it is for a business. Dependant on your ISP. If you are not set on a business plan you would most likely be going against your acceptable use policy, thus putting yourself at jepordy of loosing your internet service. I would recommend the site listed in the sources. I have used them for over a year now and they are fantasic. Extremely cheap. Depending on how you pay (how many months at a time) the price ranges from $7.50 to $6.20 a month. With their features you won't find a better deal, not to mention not a single min of downtime. But thats just my opinon, as far as software...thats dependant...you have html and xtml to choose from. If you allready know html I would stick with it. As for software I'll include a link for a decent freebie as well

Well, as far as the design goes,I can suggest you to use Dreamweaver, is the professional design and editing tool for web design used by many designers. It will work great for you since you have forgotten your HTML.

Now the hosting part. it wouldn't recommend you to host your site from your Personal computer, first because you need more than regular desktop operating system (in this case windows xp). Second, because you need a very good machine to handle the requests in the case that your site has many hits a day(It may collapse in front of your very eyes). You can get very cheap professional hosting for as little as $12.00 a year. try www.100webspace.com.

If you are currently a paid Internet subscriber, you are entitled to a "homepage" which often contains simple navigation and editing tools. And if you use the Netscape browser, the built-in Composer feature is a superior HTML authoring tool. You can easily generate a full-blown website as a Homepage.

Nevertheless, the "homepage" URL is likely to be "http://homepage.earthlink.com/subscribe... name" and that URL can easily be overwritten via a redirection service, i.e., "mydomain.com" which allows you to link any registered domain name to "mask" another website. For example, should you type in the "domain name," you will be immediately transported to the homepage and the hompage URL of http://homepage.earthlink.com/subscriber., a homepage URL which will be masked by the domain name. And the charge for the redirection service [even at godaddy.com] is normally FREE.

Here's a demonstration: Type in the URL window: "www.pizzanextdoor.com" which will bring up their pizza website. Take note of the domain name. Then type in the URL window: "http://home.pacbell.net/vten/1a/pizzame... and you will see that this is the original homepage which is unmasked without the domain name.

Good luck!