well i suggested it because of that, but also because he says he has learned basic html which is good because you can use php within HTML code using tags.
argh! i cant remember the name of a great private server that i used.. mmm cant even remeber the name of the one most people use.. but i do remember that the one i used was soooooo much easier to setup.
EDIT: here we go, this is the one most people use
Apache. thier are a few other sites that might intrest you:
PHP ide - ide for php (and other) sytanx highlighting
PHP nuke - a php thingy for creating forums i think?
PHPmyadmin - helps w/ mySQL, database stuff