If you had never built a site before and you wanted someone to show you what software would you be happy in using?
Dreamweaver. It is the best for new people and novices alike. Plus if you go down to your local Barnes and Nobles there are lots of good books that will get you started. Just be patient and work through a couple books, and you will catch on in no time! Good Luck! cheers
As far as entry level apps or should i say "freeware", coding manually is also a good option since it's the building blocks of the web. It all starts with the same <html> tag in the first place.
It is important to teach someone to code manually. If they use dreamweaver, sure they may learn the first day how to make tables and links, but they really won't know anything. Having them code everything shows them the structure of html, where the head goes, what goes in the head, what the body tags are for... They will also know how to troubleshoot their HTML better by knowing the structure, and using proper code practices. I would spend a good 1 - 2 months just coding pure html until you/the person can properly code a basic page including: Head Tag, CSS Styles (proper understanding of how to, for example, redefine H2 or Body vs define a custom style, and full understanding of HOW TO define CSS not only within the page, but with a linked style sheet), Understand/Write Meta Tag, Code a table (with proper understanding of TD, TR, and how columns work, how to add a column, row, etc.), Make links using title attribute and target, use anchor tags, insert an image, full understanding of relative paths, proper understanding of lists, and all that other good stuff. I'm running dry on things to add. Just do yourself/the person a favor and really understand HTML before you move over to using APPs. It will make their life a lot easier, their code a lot cleaner, and in the long run they will have learned more by coming to their own conclusions, and will have a stronger knowledge of HTML than if they had dicked around in dreamweaver. Learning HTML properly will open the doors to them learning PHP properly, or ASP.NET properly, or so on. You get my drift.