I don't think you need books at this stage, there is loads to trawl through on the web. I started with www.htmldog.com and www.w3schools.com then when I needed something more advanced I got a couple of books. But at this stage you need to learn HTML and CSS and get to grips with that.

There's definitely so much free stuff out there on the Internet (the web design community is fantastic in its general willingness to help its own) that especially in the beginner stages there's really no need to shell out money for it. W3schools and HTMLDog, like obesebee mentioned, are both great; I got almost my entire grounding in web coding from w3schools and they're very step-by-step about the process. Tizag.com is another good one; though for the most part it's more focused on scripting (a slightly more advanced topic), it also has a solid HTML tutorial and CSS tutorial for beginners.

You'll want to start out by learning about HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which is the markup that you use to create the basic skeleton structure of your page and its content. When you feel comfortable with that, move on to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) which you can use to style up that basic content and make it all pretty-like.

The most important thing is -- don't get discouraged. Even if your school is not providing the best support for you (sinful), there are literally thousands of people on the Internet (like us) who are more than willing to give you a hand. Web design can seem a bit intimidating at first, but in the long run it is a *lot* of fun.

obesebee,
Thank you so much.
I truly appreciate your advice and suggested websites.
I will be learning from them now.

I think you are right - books may be a little too overwhelming right now?

I just wish there was a basic book for someone completely new like myself that really provided step-by-step details.

Maybe I'm wanting too much?

you should use Lynda.com - here is a link to a free 30-day trial. there are 4 or 5 courses there that really nail 90% of what you need to know in a very easy to learn video tutorial style.

http://www.lynda.com/promo/freepass/...aspx?lpk35=326

the search feature is your friend at the GDF, it doesn't mind being used like most friends

LINK

Try HEAD FIRST Books. . . they do one for HTML and CSS and it takes you through step by step. I invested in it and have built 3 websites (admittedly they are all very similar) but it's a good book to start with and very easy to use. A book means you can go back and find something when you're not sure. It gives exercises and you build a couple of websites - all in HTML & CSS

My entire knowledge and understanding of web design started with playing around with MediaWiki software. From there i learnt CSS and some html.

For example, i frequently googled tags and syntax i didnt understand just to see what comes up. A lot of the time it went to w3schools.