You dont need the webhosting or FTP for uploading to get your website going. You should have all of your pages ready and checked before you upload it.

TESTING:
I use a free html checker called:

html Validator. This free program tests your html page and then tells you and errors it finds. The most common is placing tags in the wrong place. It not only tells you the eror, but tells you what the correction is. A very valuable tool.

GRAPHICS (BELLS AND WHISTLES: As Deb mentioned the web offers a gazillion free web graphics. These range from cite little animated animals to pictures to banners to buttons. Just about all of the stuff you see on various chipper websites is available free. Just do a web search fro: Free We Graphics. All of the stuff you see on my site was obtained for free from various sites.