The best way to start seeds indoors is to spread them out on a wet paper towel, fold the towel over the seeds and put them into a baggie, place it under a heating pad on low heat, I usually put several at a time, they can be stacked, do this untill you see that they have started to sprout.

I like to use egg cartons as my first choice, I fill them with moistened organic seed starting soil, put the sprouted seed in one of the sections of the filled egg carton and cover it with about 1/4 to 1/8 inch more of soil. I like using these because of the reusing factor, and that they are more cost effective, you have to buy seed starting mix but I have priced out both ways and it is far cheaper than the pellets. I save my egg cartons all year just for this purpose. My second choice is seed starter peat pellets, they are less cost effective but still work well, you soak them in warm water and add the sprouted seeds.

Yes, if you are going to start seeds indoors you will need grow lights.

I usually transplant my seedlings in 4in cups when they get theie secon set of leaves or true leaves, you can not move them outside until the first part of May for zone 8B, it is to cold and they will die. I start some of my plants in January, they start to get too big for the 4 in pots, so I transplant them again into gallon containers, When moving to the outside when warm enough they need to be hardend off, which means they need to get used to the tempratue change from being inside, to do this you will need to set them outside for a couple of hours for a few days before leaving them out overnight.