blogging software such as wordpress (wordpress.org) or blogger (blogger.com) may actually be of interest to you. I personally use wordpress as it came with my hosting service. These use php and mysql to run.
Wordpress allows you to set up categories and sub categories through the administration side. It also can be modified to look any way you like, this can be done through altering the html if you know what you are doing but you can also find and download themes (pre designed layouts but other users) that can be installed on the site to change the entire look without needing to deal with any code.