You can get a good
free website (50 megs) with
no advertisements at
http://www.angeltowns.com/
They have a page builder of sorts but you're best doing the HTML in Notepad from your browser, good luck with that!
A good site for HTML reference is
http://www.lissaexplains.com/ very easy to follow.
Also if you want a shorter web address for free you could try
http://shorturl.com/ You just have to put a small graphic at the bottom of one of your pages.
There are lots of places on the web you can get free counters and other goodies, but you have to be careful that a condition of using them doesn't included having pop ups. So always check first.
Good Luck!