jessejump - 7:34 pm on Mar 14, 2006 (gmt 0)

>>>>>> I thought I had the basics, I was going to use Web Studio to create 10 or so pages of good content, figure out a domain name, contact a hosting company, get online, the refine the site

I think you are being overwhelmed with information. At this point, don't worry about a database, javascript, a CMS, programming languages, php, ASP, Open Source, running your own web server.
You want to make some basic HTML web pages and send them up to a hosting company. You can use any HTML editing program or Notepad to add some text and pictures to make your pages.
A good HTML book or some basic tutorials can teach you how to do this. Then later, you can advance along if you are interested in learning the other things.