I want to build a simple website. What are today's programs of choice for cheap, middle priced and mega bucks?

Cheap = text editor.

Depends on what you want to do. Over at my personal website ben-johnson.org, I'm running a weblog powered by WordPress (wordpress.org), and a photo gallery run by (the aptly named) Gallery (gallery.sourceforge.net). Check them out to see what you can do.

To do these software packages, you'll need a web hosting account, which can typically be had for <$10/month with a decent chunk of storage space and bandwidth. I'm using a company called DreamHost (dreamhost.com), and they'll throw in a free 1-year registration of your domain name (usually an $8-10 value).

If you're just looking for software to write HTML, obviously, a text editor will be the cheapest way to go. You can do HTML in MS Word, although it's not very elegant. Then, there's dedicated software like DreamWeaver, but I don't know pricing for that off the top of my head.

Have to agree that unfortunately the only way to make really professional sites is to learn HTML - that said, my favorite free way of designing web pages is to use the original Mozilla browser (not Firefox). They offer a wonderful tool in: File > Edit Page which allows you to alter text, pictures, etc. If you find a page with a format that appeals to you, load it then tweak the items to make it your own. Otherwise if you have a few $ to spare, Dreamweaver is hard to beat.

Good luck!

btw, although you can use this to edit say Travelocity receipt pages, you shouldn't do it because it's just wrong

Assuming you have word, lay it out there and just save it as HTML.

Can't get any cheaper then that.

Find a copy of Windows 98 and pull the Front Page Express program off of it.

Does a dandy job for simple pages.

EDLIN still works pretty well also