From my experience, I think Rails would be a good option. I myself am new to programming (been doing it for less than 3 months) and have found Rails to be relatively easy/ straight forward. Plus there is are so many ressources out there in case he would like to learn more.

Rails for Zombie could be a good starting point.

Side note, when I say I am new to programming, 3 months ago I barely knew what css ment - and have never taken a cs class.