I think I have a good idea for a website, bt I know next to nothing about web design or programming - is this something I could learn easily, or do I need to find an expert to set it up for me? Where do I start?

If you want to build your website on your own from scratch, I highly recommend getting some free webspace to practice on.

Some free webspace hosts:
http://www.freeservers.com
http://www.50megs.com
http://www.20m.com
http://www.tripod.lycos.com

A few resources that you may find helpful in designing your first website.

Free website templates:
http://freesitetemplates.com
http://www.freewebtemplates.com
http://www.templatesbox.com
http://www.freelayouts.com

Free banner templates:
http://www.animationonline.com/S/banner_templates.html
http://www.pysoft.com/GIF_Designer_Banners1.html
http://www.clickfire.com/content/graphics/banners

Free scripts, tools etc:
http://www.free-scripts.net
Offers html guide, email checker, chat, and many other things.

http://www.free-webmaster-tools.com
Has over 1400 Directory resources for web development

http://resources.bravenet.com/scripts_archive/javascript_dhtml
Offers free clocks, colors, images, menus, mouse effects, scrollers and more.

And finally, some free HTML help and tutorials:

Some simple HTML codes to spice up your web site:
http://www.web-source.net/html_tips.htm

HTML articles and tutorials:
http://www.iboost.com/build/programming/html

Simple HTML tags:
http://htmlgoodies.earthweb.com/primers/primer_2.html

Just what it says: How to build HTML:
http://www.howtobuildhtml.com

This is taken from an article i wrote a few years ago so some of the links might not work, but if you search around a bit I'm sure you'll be able to find similar. Good Luck!

Take a look at some web page building software that are on www.download.com. Some are for free, many can be used for free for a limited amount of time. To learn HTML, XML, PERL, or other language to design web pages can be very tedious if you don't have any programming experience. There are other commercial programs that will allow you to design web pages without any programming. Ask a clerk at a nearby computer store about them.

Depends on your idea. Most of the tools mentioned will help create only simple to moderately sophisticated web sites.

If your idea is say something like facebook for example, you will either need to find a web designer/programmer or go for some classes as mentioned by Jennmanski. However, if you already know the basics of programming then grab yourself some good books.

New web sites and most old ones too, are now using a mix of technologies called AJAX. The buzz word for these web sites, I'm sure you've already heard, is Web 2.0.

Here's a list of some things you'll need to know in order to make a fully functional "Web 2.0" site:

-HTML
-CSS
-JavaScript
-Server side Language such as PHP/ASP/Perl/Ruby
-Some sort of graphics tool to help create all those lil pics that make sites look nice.

Hope this helps ya. :)

There are many, many considerations that go into setting up a website. The answers to which will determine the tools and skills necessary. Similar to constructing a business plan or a project, you must determine what it is that you are trying to accomplish, how long you have to do it (can it be done in phases or will it be a 'Big Bang"), and what will it cost? (Scope, Time, Cost).
A couple of the biggest questions are:
Is the site going to be interactive?
Do you need a database?
Does the site have to be secure?
What is the expected traffic?
Will you host it yourself.
How much money do you have?
How much money do you have?
How much money do you have?
and did i ask:
How much money do you have?

These are only a few of hundreds of decisions you will have to make. If this is a development project you are about to take on your self, the most important thing you need to do is learn, learn, LEARN. There are many tools available for little or no cost. The education and in both IT and business is what you really need before you can expect success.

Check around for free/cheap classes. They often have adult classes at the library and through the city/school district (continued education classes). I live in a small town and a company that builds computers and does websites is willing to make up a session to teach the basics for people. You might want to check out something like that, too.

Start out by testing the waters with a FREE service like Bravenet.com. They allow you to use easy ready text or code methods with free samples. They have Blank pages too for you to mess with and see if your handywork looks good.

you could just use freewebs.com they are so easy to use and so good you just type in what you want to appear on the site and put the pictures and videos you want to be there up and it puts it up there for you. you can also make a forum and a guestbook and a photo album and a bunch of other stuff

I know a friend of mine knows HTML language very well to design a website. He created a website for our MSN group. To learn HTML would be very beneficial for you. It all depends what you are trying to include on your website.
Good luck to you. :)

You can start by deciding what format the site should take. Will it be a blog, social site, ecommerce site, forum or hoster? or one of the plethora of others?

This will also determine what language would be best to learn and what type of hosting would be best.

this will be good enough to study any web design or programming langausge : www.w3schools.com

If you want to make your site into a successful business, you should do what you are good at, and let others to do what you are not, such as programming. So I say go to elance and post a job.

Stuffing html into a file is only part of design. There is the whole visual /presentation side.

Go to http://webpagesthatsuck.com/ for examples and lists of things not to do.