Is threre any specific lanuguages or know-how need to use a SSL certificate, or do you just redirect the user to https://www.whatever.com and it automatically encrypts the data and all of that?
you need to set up an ssl server as well as purchase a certificate for your server if you want https. see http://www.verisign.com/products/site/index.html?sl=070302 for pricing on ssl certificates.
I understand that I need a certificate and all of that, but when I want to transfer from secure to non-secure is all I do it redirect them to a https page insead of a http?