Web design and hosting questions

Hey guys, I am currently employed at a mechanical workshop, temporarily, and was asked to create a website for them. I have been running a IIS web server for some years now... but that is no where near secure enough for large amounts of traffic to flow through, with out errors or without security flaws. The website I'm designing will have hundreds of hits per day, and must be efficient and secure.

I know with my IIS web server, getting into the FTP screen is a major bug, but it doesn't worry me, because only friends and family use my site.

My first question is, How do I design a website that will not allow you to get access to the FTP screen? Or am I better off going with a hosting company with a C-panel type set up?

Next, what is the best program to use for website design that is supported by most browsers, I know how to use Publisher and can code HTML....

Next, any suggestions for a cheap web host (I'm in Australia), It does not need to be high capacity, but I want a .com domain name for example, Example.com(.au optional).

I'm sure I will have a few more questions, so lets start with the basics first!

Thank you for your help! –Adrian

For website design I use Dreamweaver. GoDaddy.com is who I use to host.

Can you shed some light on my other questions? I'm kinda lost as to how to prevent the ftp menu with out the use of c-panel server set up.

you should use http://nearlyfreespeech.net to host the website and host the domain. it is pennies a day and very cheap. They provide plenty of security. You need to download a FTP client and connect to your web server that way. Creating a user name and password keeps others out.

-Kendall

Cool thanks kendall, I just sent nearly free speech a email regarding my further questions, hopefully I hear back from them soon

Thanks guys -Adrian