Newbie and Confused!!

[Cashster]

I am so confused and need to know where I should start!
I read all this talk about .fla and swf files. Where is the first place i should start?

I guess i should have some type of flash software to create these flash animations, but i also need help on how to publish them on the web. (is there special code or html to do this?)

thanks in advance,
Cashster

[flex]

Go over to www.macromedia.com and download a 30 day trial of Flash MX.

Once you've done that. Head back here and go to the basic tutorials. If you get stuck, post here.