First steps in website design, is html a neccesity?

DW is the lazy mans guide to html, its purpose is to make html user friendly.. the best way your going to learn html is by taking a course, teaching yourself with e-books/vids or what i do... always work in design/code view. i'm no expert but DW over does html and makes a script very messy.. id work with just notepad but using DW is sooo much quicker