Web Authoring
General It really is easy, especially with a few pointers in the right direction. You don't need to buy expensive software to get started.
www.w3schools.com has useful tutorials on many "web" technologies.
HTML and CSS on MSDN. This is an online version of content I often used to use when working on web pages (I don't often need to refer to it now). However, if you care about making your web site work with new browsers like Mozilla Firefox you might find it better to use material www.w3c.org, such as this table of HTML elements.
The CSS Zen Garden is a very interesting site, both technically, and because it demonstrates how much presentation can influence ones perception of the same information.
I create my pages and maintain this site with Arachnophilia from www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia. It is freeware, or, more accurately, Careware. I use the old Windows version, not the newer Java version.
I mainly use the Internet to find answers to specific questions - usually computer or maths related. I am not a regular casual surfer. There is an excellent "library" of FAQ documents at www.faqs.org. I've only visited the computer related section so far, but this site contains answers to questions on almost any topic.
Although one hears a lot of bad reports of Wikipedia, I find it a very useful site. Most of pages I have seen relating to academic subjects seem quite authoratative.