I am trying to create a relatively simple VF page. The idea is from the account a user will be able to click a button which will open a sepearte window that will have a pdf with certain fields populated from the ID passed through the url.  Here's my problem. . .

The fields I need are not directly under the Account sObject.  So {!account.saledate} isn't a field according to the error generated on the dev console.  According to what I'm seeing in the setup page under the customise section, the field or object that I need to be looking under is one called Person Account.  I've clicked on the field to expand it in setup, but there is no "fields" link as there is under the Account sObject.  Again the Account sObj is a parent sObj (at least it looks that way) to my Person Account obj.

When I expand the Person Account obj there are three choices below it: Page layouts, Compact layouts, Record Types.

The Page Layouts, and Record Types links look to have fields in them, but it doesn't behave the same way.  For instance the I click on Record Types and there is a dialogue that has 5 columns: Action, Record Type Label, Description, Active, and Modified By.  There are approx. 10 entries, or rows.  If I click on one of the records it allows me to change the Record Label, Record Type Name, and a checkbox to make it active or not.  The Namespace Prefix description text field is empty.  I click cancel and I'm back to the 10 entries again.

My problem is that I can't seem to access the Person Account obj.  I've tried several approaches, including but not limited too:

Account.PersonAccount
Account.PersonAccount__c
Account.Person_Account
Account.Person_Account__c
PersonAccount
Person_Account
PersonAccount__c
Person_Account__c

I think you get the picture.  Each of those attempts generates a field not found error on the dev console.

I'm not sure if all that explanation does any good to help with your diagnoses or if I'm missing something.  Let me know if you need any further explanation.

I'm a newb when it comes to developing on the SF platform.  I've got experience with web application development, but like I said, I'm new to this.  

So I'm trying to create a VF page that will renderas="pdf".  The information will come from the Account sObject that will have use the information from custom fields.  It'll be really easy to make accept for that I can't make an pages in an active org.

I start the dev console > New > Visual Force page

The console looks like its already to go, but I can't save as an alert box pops up with the following:

Deployment Failed
Can't alter metadata in an active org

Right now the only thing that is typed into the editor is:
<apex:page>
</apex:page>

So how do I go about developing a page?