I have basic HTML and CSS knowledge that I tought to myself over the course of a few days. I realise the following question will probably be quite hard to do but I'm willing to learn what is needed. Basically I want users of my potential website to be able to type in their post code (zip for americans) and then be given a list of results that are closest to them. Lots of websites have this. Please could you tell me what I would need to do this. A map is not necessary but if its easy I could use that too. I realise this is probably quite hard and I've googled but couldnt really find any answers. Thanks.
you could base your application on some of the postcode calculation services like this: http://www.pc-i.co.uk/postcode-distance.php
i agree with digital29, you need php, to grab info from other site. some using service of them are using API
This is very much a PHP/mySQL - OR PHP sqlLite. You need to check with your hosts what is included in your package. If you don't have mysql (with saya phpMyAdmin) access check what version of PHP you have. If it is php5.0 or above you automatically have the ability to use SQLLite. You can check this by creating a test php file like this: <html><body><?php phpinfo(); ?></body><html> save it as "something.php" load that on your server and then open it in your browser. This will show you all/any php setting you have access to. If you have php access then tha's a first step. You then need to find tutorials etc. to tell you how to create mysql or SQLLite databases and the basic queries. For a new person it is hard work - but rewarding. Good luck