I've always heard that FrontPage adds in a lot of extra garbage code that isn't needed so I've shyed away from using it in the past...although I do own a copy. I personally use Dreamweaver and have stuck with that. If cash is short, or even if it's not, a free alternative to Dreamweaver and Frontpage is the NVU web design software. You can find that here: http://www.nvu.com And for designing your graphics you can pick up the free GetPaint.net program here: http://www.getpaint.net Both get high ratings from their users. If designing for yourself, find a set of programs that serve your purpose, learn it, use it and profit. If designing for others, you may want to stick with the industry standards. Take care, -Keith
Drop Frontpage What about Wordpress... it'll make the layout for you so you don't have to write code! A ton of layouts to pick from... can always customize them.
I dont think you can really 'learn dreamweaver'. You would need to learn HTML or some other language first.
I learned with notepad. I use dreamweaver code view sometimes to get the site framework up and running quickly because it has many useful fill-in features that speed things up. Dreamweaver design view can generate loads of bloat if not used correctly (nested tables). Cross-browser compatibility is not always the best either. I have to do things this way as most of my business is SEO .. so I need to the HTML/CSS knowledge so that I'm not limited to any software. Dreamweaver is probably the best of the visual-design software, perhaps Microsoft Expression is a close second.
If you're going to use Dreamweaver or any other WISIWYG editor, just use the code view and learn how HTML and CSS really work and interact with one another. At which point just save yourself the $600 and use a text editor. If you need help with coding, there are always places you can turn to for help, such as here and SitePoint.
Hand-coding, all the way! Takes a bit longer sometimes, but so much more cleaner, way easier to identify issues, and several other things I can't think of at the moment. I guess one example is to see if your link partners have attached nofollow tags to the links, assuming you don't already have a toolbar installed for that sort of thing. Hand coding can help you interpret the code under the hood. It's a skill worth having, and there's all kinds of free help out there.
Something like Dreamweaver or Notepad++ is probably best, if you use dreamweaver in code view then basically you get the same as Notepad++ (I believe) and all that happens is you can select colours for different coding elements, which can be quite useful to allow you to view your code.
If you had already learned Frontpage then fine, but if you are just starting to learn it stop! It's on the way out and as others have said it's a poor option, I learned it ages ago and I wish I'd tried something else.
Hand code. You won't be pumping out layouts as quickly, but if you're serious about learning and becoming a decent coder, do it by hand. use Aptana (search google for free download)
Used to use Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express back in my own freelance days as it is free and is another good code (source) view option but then I was also a .Net developer so made sense on that side too.