Google is a tutorialists friend....
Dreamweaver is loads of trouble if you don't understand basic HTML already
I'd read your books. Nothing better than knowing the basics solidly!! It is a fact that the reason that higher ups (bosses) or other more trained people make silly mistakes, is because they forget the basics, or don't have a strong enough grasp of the basics.
If you're not familiar with PHP, MySQL or anything like that to a point where you can whip out some code in a couple hours that works, this might take you longer than a couple months. Before you dive into making your own, look at what others have done before you, and modify/update thiers. If you can understand what they're doing, you've got foot-hold so you can start somewhere.
But definately google "Create your own CMS Tutorial +PHP" and read up. Most will tell you exactly what you need, and step you through it.
Intranet Journal usually has some good tutorials...
~Brett
