Very vague, it depends on what your friend wants. There's a number of free hosts out there, look for one that meets your needs.
If you're willing to spend around $10 a month, you can get hosting from somewhere like Dreamhost or 1&1 that would be more than adequate for a small site.
Do you have a spare computer you can dedicate to the task?
If so, the next thing you need to do is decide on the OS and the web server software you want to use.
For the OS, I find Ubuntu (or really any debian based distro) to be the easiest to get a web server up and running. You'll also need PHP and MySQL. You can install everything with one apt-get command.
Of course you can do it on Windows as well, but that can either be really easy or really tricky depending on which web server software you want to use.
You could ust use a normal Windows installation and install server software on it. I'm sure I've seen server software available for free with PHP and MySQL included.
If you use a Mac, doesn't OS X already come with a web server already set up??
I've used Apache HTTP server 2.2 on a Windows XP machine in the past to set up a home web server. Went through DynDNS for domain name registration etc.
I'm thinking of trying to set up a web server through UBUNTU just for the heck of it. I need to get a larger HD though. Right now the PC I have UBUNTU installed on only has a 10GB HD and the 10.04 install took up just about half of that.
I would recommend setting up a LAMP server in a VM before putting anything live. If you aren't familiar with how VMs work, then set aside an older/spare computer for the task.
sorry i haven't been on in a while but setting up ubuntu would be a good idea. also wamp is also a good idea. I think with these sugeestions i think it would be self explanitory on what to do
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If you're willing to spend around $10 a month, you can get hosting from somewhere like Dreamhost or 1&1 that would be more than adequate for a small site.
If so, the next thing you need to do is decide on the OS and the web server software you want to use.
For the OS, I find Ubuntu (or really any debian based distro) to be the easiest to get a web server up and running. You'll also need PHP and MySQL. You can install everything with one apt-get command.
Of course you can do it on Windows as well, but that can either be really easy or really tricky depending on which web server software you want to use.
Oh that's right, I forgot that people were born with the knowledge of how to setup websites.
If he wants to learn how, he has to start somewhere.
But I'll point out, he's asking us to show him the steps now. And instead of showing them the steps, you'd rather he not bother at all.
I've used Apache HTTP server 2.2 on a Windows XP machine in the past to set up a home web server. Went through DynDNS for domain name registration etc.
I'm thinking of trying to set up a web server through UBUNTU just for the heck of it. I need to get a larger HD though. Right now the PC I have UBUNTU installed on only has a 10GB HD and the 10.04 install took up just about half of that.
http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_lamp_for_newbies
If you just aren't quite comfortable with Linux for some reason then go with WAMP:
http://www.wampserver.com/en/
Maybe a fresh install of Windows XP or Windows 2000 would be best for this?