Need Advice for building character

I'm pretty new when it comes to D2. I played the first act a year ago on my brother's computer while I was visiting him, but it wasn't LOD and I havn't played since. Recently I bought the D2 battle chest and was surprised to find that the strategy guide was mostly devoid of important information for building charactors such as exactly what the different stats and magic effects do, and which kinds of attacks they affect. Advice and links are appreciated.

Edit:

My current char is a lvl 17 Sorc with all the available lightning skills so far and significant investments in charged bolt, warmth, and static field. I am mostly interested in general information, but advice related to my current char is also appreciated.

http://www.diabloii.net/

This is a pretty good reference for D2Lod gameplay, the way I learned how to play was simply playing it, I cleared everything and experimented with the stats and skills.

But you'll learn fast to have a well balanced character in order to defeat the higher difficulties, as in Atleast one skill with significant damage from each of your skill trees.

But I'm sure someone else can give more advice.

The best peice of advice I can give, Hangout with somebody that is knowledgeable about the game, and just play alot, Your not going to need that much strategy earlyon, Just play alot and stay active in full games, interact, and you'll learn.

I'd suggest having a barb for your first character, they are generally the easiest to use IMO.

Yeah, because theres not much to them early on, just attack attack attack.

Yeah after barb i'd say go with a bowzon and use multishot, its really easy and its the lazy way of mass-killing. they're allmost as easy as a barb. Also just talk to people about builds and be careful about trading. alot of people out there want to rip u off

Bowzons suck now, I would suggest a javazon.

http://66.98.154.13/Skills.html <---- great for seeing how diff builds work out.