I haven't used Content Management Systems so I'm afraid I'm of little use on that front.
so could I use say dreamweaver to make the web pages, then use php and sql to do the complex stuff? How easy is it to get the two to mix together?
Yes that will work. It's very easy to mix the two - sections of php code can be put within html. when the webpage is called the SERVER processes the php code and then includes the resulting html code within the main html document, in the places that the sections of php code were added. The resulting html file is then viewed by the USER's computer.
So if you wish you can even create all your html code from php code.
for example the php code...
<? php
echo "<font size='4'>size four text</font>";
?>
... will result in the following html code being produced...
<font size='4'>size four text</font>
for the basics I strongly recommend the Idiots guide to php and sql. just by following the lessons and case studies you'll pick it up quickly.
the reason I say php is easy is because we're just moving variables around from place to place - there isn't much manipulation going on like there would be if we were using code to model engineering designs for example.
MrS