Hi,

I know forums are a great place to learn, but are there any step-by-step sites to learn PHP? (from the ground up).

or maybe a book is better to start off with?

search google for php tutorials, there are lots and lots and lots.
RTFM at www.php.net
O'Reilly books are usually good.

Sitepoint.com does loads of tutorials if you want to know how you can make pages more dynamic using PHP

thanks i'll check those out.

it seems most aff people use php versus microsoft stuff...why is that? its not like hosting prices are much different.

PHP is free, Linux is free, makes for setting up a cheap hosting centre.