For those of us who learned to code HTML using good old Notebook this application can seem to lessen peoples desire to learn the various techniques required for successful page building because of its vast array of easily navigable and usable tools. I do not subscribe to this however as I have found this editor to be an indispensable piece of authoring software.
Since I started using this software package seven months ago my appreciation for the depth of facilities contained within it has simply increased from one month to the next. The ability to create rollover navigation bars and other such niceties as the ability to use layers put this program head and shoulders its counterparts. The users ability to drag and drop components on the page work surface makes life so much easier when designing the page. Ok, I have to admit I find it annoying when I am editing the script and find the program has inserted extraneous tags but I am willing to put up with this one downer because of what the program can do.
Although very easy for an experienced web author to utilise I would certainly say that this is not an entry level editor by any means. The software makes it easy to create basic pages but to use something as powerful as Dreamweaver 3 to do that simple task is an insult not just to the package but also to its designers. I also believe that people are more likely to be concerned with the learning the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface that Dreamweaver utilises rather than bother to learn the basic coding rules but that is something that people like myself will have to accept.
Macromedia have, through the release of the Dreamweaver series of products, has I believe constructed a market leading product that will establish new web authoring boundaries.