I am confused by all the acronyms, php, abc, 123, I dont know what the hell is going on.

Ive made 1 or 2 freebie template based sites before, but other than that Im a noob.

Really I want to know, where I should be spending my time, and on what program to get the most benefits.

I dont want to learn dreamweaver for example, if thats "SO 2003". I would like to learn the latest hotness. But I am intersted in dreamweaver. Although Ive never used it.

What are a list of software I need to know, to start designing web sites?

~thanks~