Thanks all for your very helpful words of advice
I've just got hold of Dreamweaver MX and will also have a good look at Wordpress - see what meets my needs best.
Presumably they both do the same sort of thing, just in a different way?
Apparently my provider does perl (whatever that is) scripting, there's no mention of SQL anywhere.
Time to stick my toe in the water and see what I can break, I reckon..
Once again, thank you all for your kind words and assistance. Expect me to plague you some more as I fumble my way round it all
All the best
Rob