I have been a member of this forum for some time and two things really surprise me, firstly the number of posts asking for help where the poster has made no effort to solve the problem themself (try doing a search with Google or whatever.)

Secondly there seems to be a feeling that Dreamweaver is the answer to all your problems even for inexperienced designers. From reading the various threads IMO it would be better for newbies to start by learning the basics of HTML and CSS, all you need to get started is a simple text editor.

I would be interested to hear what other members feel.

When I first started to use this forum I couldn't even do HTML. I'm now fluent in XHTML CSS and am familiar with JavaScript, PHP, SQL, ActionScript and have a full time job as a graphic/web designer.
I remember asking questions before looking, maybe because I didn't know where to look, and I did rely on dreamweaver. I now never use dreamweaver's features. One of the best things I did was to go through all of the tutorials on the W3C site.

My opinion: Dreamweaver is NOT a good tool for beginners who don't know the basics of HTML and CSS. Dreamweaver has some great features for EXPERIENCED designers, but it produces crappy code when used only in WYSIWYG mode in the hands of newbies. Sorry kids.. you have to learn the basics or even a tool like DW will not create a well-coded, cross-browser friendly web site.

My opinion: I could have never ever produced a site with DW without prior experience in HTML and CSS. I have used tutorials and taken a few classes but the best way to learn it is to jump right in. Secondly, I have asked questions before searching (not many times - don't want to be embarrassed) and then went on to search. Left my post up as I searched for my answer. Sometimes I would get my answer from searching before someone answered me, start my process of fixing, get stuck, and then the answer here went into greater detail and pushed me to the end of the problem with a solution. By coming to the board I've gained one good friend and a mentor. It is so helpful to have someone to bounce things off of and the people on this board are not like many I've seen on other boards. Very helpful and most members do not cut down others and maybe that is why you see more questions being asked. I also don't think there are that many that post without searching at all. My two cents worth.

My Opinion: Well.. Dreamweaver is crap but it's flat out bullshi* for a newb. They just learn to depend on dreamweaver to design everything in a very bad way for them so they don't have to learen a thing and therefore they improve in not the slightest bit. I learned HTML the old fashioned way. MS Notepad, and a browser. Mmmm the hours of all night learning, pizza, and cigarettes. Can't get any better than that now can it? As for people asking questions they could easily find on the net.. Meh.. It makes the forums more active. They're lazy and don't have any independence so they won't make it anywhere anyways. Might as well help them get a little farther than they would on their own.

firstly the number of posts asking for help where the poster has made no effort to solve the problem themself (try doing a search with Google or whatever.)

http://www.webmaster-talk.com/seo-ta...l-thought.html

I tried(!) to work with the 30-days demo of Dreamweaver around two years ago and must confess that Wordpad (or any other text editor) is much more comfortable.

Maybe I haven't spend enough time to get familiar enough, but considering the license price of this software, its user interface is quite disappointing.

Mattmaul1992

I liked your answer, the last part was especially perceptive.

Thanks to all who took the trouble to respond, some good thoughtful comments.

I love dreamweaver. I use it to write ANY code that I'm writing. I don't use the drag and drop functionality of it. I just write my code in it for the color coding and the handy "Sites" functionality.

I can't even afford Dreamweaver. First on my web site was just a picture cause that's all I could put on it, now I'm learning through Wordpress. I just took a free theme and made it the way I want it. It took my a month to do it, but I think it looks wicked.

I use dreamweaver because it has a great code predictor which speeds up the coding. (although it needs a javascript code predictor functionality) I think it's also good to have a WYSIWYG editor so I can select sections of a site in order to get to the correct section of code.

Dreamweaver is definitely not for beginners. It is important to learn HTML and CSS before trying to fully utilize the tool. I think that if you look at the design and the code simultaneously, you can learn some things that books don't teach. Experience is a great teacher. But I would suggest using a simple editor first and learn the basics. Then you will be able to understand the power of Dreamweaver

I think Dreamweaver is a good choice if you have design in Photoshop. That's quite easy to slice such design than.

I got Notepad++ a few months back (maybe 5 or 6) and I've never looked back, all i need is the highlighting (so my eyes don't bleed) and I'm good to go.

I agree, I started with notepad and a book of HTML 4.
Though I am not a coder but the notepad has taught me to take care of my daily needs to modify a line here and a line there.

about me i began in web design by study html and front bage is nise and wonderfull progaram in design

its easy not hard

I tried dreamweaver, got irritated, and went back to notepad++. (Now I use hyperedit) I think, honestly, that if you're seriously stuck, or you're new to searching, go ahead and ask. But be nice about it. We take time out of our days to coach you, so don't think you're not going to have to put forth any effort. (not you specifically, "you" universally, yeah?)

Honestly, I think hard coding is just easier for me to handle. Most designs I do are for dynamic scripts anyways, so there's no reason to do design-xhtml-wordpress or something when I can just go design-wordpress.

I used photoshop and design design design to get my self better. and have to say i have seen improvements.

I started w/ Frontpage 2003 then used notepad (realized that notepad was all I really needed) then with all the hype first began with dreamweaver (forgot when that was), I downloaded the trial, dreamweaver has SOME handy features (like all other wysiwyg web editors)...

I sum it up like this...If your seriously into web development, do this:

Install an 'up to date' html editor, such as dreamweaver (Example: insert table using the icons and try to remember what the code tab in dreamweaver says from <table> to </table>) then use notepad to see how far you can get without the wysiwyg editor. And keep going back and forth, DW to NOTEPAD...NOTEPAD to DW etc..etc.. Until you understand what your doing without DW...Because after all, Dreamweaver IS THE Learning tool, (just like other 'learning tools') and you will see that your getting better and better..TIME will tell..You WILL see.

By the way, as long as I have been on this forum, I still can't perfect tables in notepad, but I have improved...Even though tables are outdated due to style sheets...It's ALL a learning process. By the way, don't forget about php & mysql...That's also good to know. When you get frustrated with something, give yourself credit for what you have already accomplished, because NO ONE that is or ever was into coding a website can NOT say they didn't accomplish anything, because they did.

One last note: DON'T EVER TRY TO GO AHEAD OF YOUR COMPETITION, FOR NOW! THEN YOU WILL SEE THE RESULTS IN THE END.

Started out with frontpage 97 back than, that how I learn my html by copying what was automatically inserted. After a year move to the basic notepad and than around 2004 or 2005 can't quite remember, I start using PSPad till today though I sometimes use notepad+++ too.

Dreamweaver IMO is just too bulky now that I know how to code stuff myself, hard coding is way more fun