Ok, it depends on what you want. Lets start with salt...

Use any substrate you want. I prefer somthing a little more fine but coarse works too. You can use live rock or holy rock/limestone. It is good to have some sort of calcium sink in a salt tank.

Pick your favorite salt water fish, angel, trigger, tang, etc. Avoid anything that will not eat flake food. We are going for an easy tank. We don't want to have to maintain a pod population.

Pick some inexpensive lights that provide the color spectrum you want. The more light you add the more you will have to fight algae. Don't expect much coraline growth on the rock with out the better lights.

Filtration...get a hang on filter. Something that will run a filter pad and/or carbon. Don't bother with a skimmer. With fish only most of the 'dirt' in the tank will be caught by a filter pad. Your protien levels won't be real high like you find in a reef tank.

Flow is not as important in a FO tank. If you have dead spots get a powerhead to keep crud from settling in the corners.

And then my favorite part. Snails, crabs, starfish, shrimp, lobsters, etc. I love the creepy crawlies. Get a jawfish or a goby that will eat flake food and set them loose. The will keep the substrate clean for you. This will keep the grime suspended so the filter can pull it out.

You can do FO real easy and cheap as long as you don't get sucked in to trying to create a reef This should give you something to read.