I want to create a very simple app, it will have no buttons (except for the close and minimize) and it will be relatively small in desktop footprint.

I want it to simply display part of a web page and update every 5 minutes. I will be designing a web page that is dynamic and updates constantly, and I want a small desktop 'viewer' (as it were) just for this information. The info is about 5 lines of text and not very wide.

How can I achieve this?

Either use an html rendering library or hook into an already-used one (or make your own renderer which only understands the small subset of html on your website).

Thanks osor, but seriously, I have no idea where to look.

Although I have been dabbling in linux/unix for a while now, I have done NO programming in it other than minor bash scripts.

Years ago i would have deemed myself an expert in VB6 but I have done no real programming for at least 2 years. And when it comes to the modern languages like .Net, java et al, I have only had a small amount of exposure to them.

I spose, what I am asking is, can someone point me to a (relatively) easy IDE for something linux based and give me a hint at what classes/libraries to look for?

I know I could easily develop this in VB.Net using an internet control, but I want to break out of my comfort zone :-)

Since this is going to be a very succinct package/application, I suppose I could go C/C++? (trust me, that's really breaking out of the 'zone'!).

If anyone could point me to some nice tutorials on C/C++ and pulling stuff from HTML, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

google for "beej network guide"

also for "glade" the gtk gui builder.
Alternately for "kdevelop" the kde ide.

there's gecko, which is an HTTP rendering library that mozilla uses. KDE has it's khtml frame. If you want something that's a little more familiar, probably develop a KDE app. If you want something that uses the same engine as mozilla, go the gtk route.

Yes, and I think that KHTML would be the easiest approach to use for someone new to programming.