I started with Dreamweaver and that is how I got in to web design but then I slowly made a switch to just coding everything in Notepad++ which is great but I opened my Dreamweaver up last night and had a play and I am really starting to think maybe it could actually compliment my hand coding and make some things much easier. What do the pro's think about this? If you know how to code correctly and can fix any dodgy code Dreamweaver makes is it worth using aswell as hand coding?
I personally use it all the time just for that. I just go into code view and start coding, for the most part design view will show you where you are at, like an instant browser. I rarely use the design view for making pages. I like the autocomplete and junk I know many text editors have autocomplete, but the mixture of that and being able to pop into design view to see what it looks like real quick, make dreamweaver my personally favorite.
I think it's ok to go back to dreamweaver once you've paid your dues learning to code by hand in something like notepad. I still code by hand, but I do it in dreamweaver - only because I like the site organization/management tools. Having the ability to sync my local and server files with one button press rocks! HomeSite can do that too, I think. I've just been too lazy to set it up...
Dreamweaver doesn't have to be a "drag and drop" tool. In fact, I've seen a lot of web development companies use it. I personally love coding in Dreamweaver, even though I never use a "graphical interface" to do it. I code in dreamweaver just like I code in notepad. Dreamweaver just has little tools that make it easier, including automated tabbing, closing tags for you, etc.
I hand-code all my websites in either Dreamweaver or Notepad++ and I'd say both of them offer a similar experience. I prefer Dreamweaver over Notepad++ at work since it streamlines a few of our more complex publishing needs but for simple websites (or non-networked anyway), Dreamweaver should offer little if no advantages over Notepad++ in my experience.
its always good practice to learn the html manually first then switch to any html editor which makes your life easier...and dreamweaver is best