I'm looking for advice / input / suggestions for a GUI based HTML editor (cheap or free - for now at least) for a novice. I want to begin to build some basic websites. Thanks for your help!
If you plan on learning HTML and CSS one of the best free options is http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/. The same company makes BBedit considered my many to be one of the best text editors. If you want to spend a bit more Textmate is probably the most popular amongst developers.
You want to stay away from Rapidweaver. You won't learn anything as its basically a wysiwyg type editor with ore designed templates.