Suggestions -- Webhosting and Webdesign for a newbie

[Sandwich]

Serious question. Any good advice for someone with nearly zero knowledge of website design who wants to start a website? Assuming I have the domain name(s) ready to go, what type of webhosting and design tools should I be looking into? Godaddy? Wordpress.com? I want this to be relatively simple, and since I wouldn’t be going into this as a money-making venture, I’d want to keep costs down as much as possible.

General details:
More than a "blog", but it would be a pretty basic website – a homepage and clickable links to regularly-updated content on other pages. (mostly words/articles, but ability to host videos or polls might be nice)

Ability to frequently change, update and archive content is a must.

There will be no forum or chat, but the ability to “register” users or have people “subscribe” (with some content available only to registered or subscribed users, such as videos; participation in polls; posting “comments” and other social media-type interaction).

No current plans to make any money from this, but the ability to do paypal or credit card transactions in the future might be something I’d want to keep my options open on.

Any advice on Webhosting and Design? (I mean, if Jasep and Sixtoedpete can create decent-looking, functioning websites, then hell, I definitely should be able to get something off the ground! lol)

[danzo]

If you're trying to keep costs down, x10hosting.com has free hosting with relatively good uptime, no ads, and the only stipulation is you have to log in once a month. And no I'm not an affiliate I just have used a free acct for years.

[SrslySirius]

Wordpress, once installed, is extremely simple to use. I highly recommend it. You can simply download template designs to suit your needs, and it's very easy to add new posts and pages. There are tons of free plugins available for extra features, such as the content-locking you're interested in doing.

I personally don't like Host Gator, but they do have a one-click install feature for Wordpress. As a complete noob, you'll probably have some trouble installing Wordpress the traditional way.

[sonatine]

Get a cloud vm for $6 a month approximately anywhere, and I second the wordpress suggestion.

Just avoid plugins like the plague, 99% of wordpress security issues come from third party enhancements in the form of plugins that people opt to install.

[Bullet Bill]

I need advice for a host that won't take down controversial material about certain scam-perpetating senior citizens, regardless of how many crazy lawsuit threats and bogus DMCA takedown notices they send. Any suggestions for me?

[mulva]

consult w/ jewdonk. he's an expert on these matters.

[DRK Star]

4Dragons can assist with these services. Send him a PM.

[BHS]

I suggest this -

http://squarespace.com/

You build your shit using their super easy plug-ins, can customize quite a bit - it looks pretty good and it's between 8-20 bucks/month which includes hosting and the design.

[nunbeater]

learn html you lazy cunts

[Muck Ficon]

I need advice for a host that won't take down controversial material about certain scam-perpetating senior citizens, regardless of how many crazy lawsuit threats and bogus DMCA takedown notices they send. Any suggestions for me?

Lemonparty

[4Dragons]

4Dragons can assist with these services. Send him a PM.

Looks more like he wants to learn to do it himself. I would suggest making an account at http://wordpress.com and getting your feet wet with a free blog.

[Sandwich]

I personally don't like Host Gator,

Why not?
Based on many of the posts here and some of my own research, I am seriously considering WordPress + Hostgator.

[nunbeater]

I personally don't like Host Gator,

Why not?
Based on many of the posts here and some of my own research, I am seriously considering WordPress + Hostgator.

SrslySirius doesn't like Host Gator because they were like yo we could help you out with some free web hosting for half a year and he was like hey can you do two years and they were like nigga don't get greedy and he got butthurt

[4Dragons]

I use hostgator and don't have any issues. I prefer it buttloads over godaddy. Bluehost would be another alt.