Like many of you guys, I started web design by hand-coding. I then moved to Frontpage 98, NetObjects Fusion, and then Dreaweaver 2.0. The move was brought from a need for higher-productivity, as well as team designing.
Throughout, I have always retained my love for code. I couldn’t stand the mauling which occured in Frontpage 98/2000, and the bloating from NetObjects. Then I found a young, capable editor in Dreamweaver 2.
That was then...
Today Dreamweaver 4 is my primary tool (along with Photoshop, Flash, and Fireworks) for web creation.
The Good:
Accurate preview - True WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get). You even see many style sheet modifications.
CSS creation - If you’ve never used CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), this may not mean anything to you now, but as 5.0+ browsers are superior in CSS support, the use of style sheets will become necessary. DW4 allows you to create internal or external sheets, and apply the styles with ease. Right-click and select.
The style sheet GUI allows for virtually any supported style to be created.
O’Reilly reference palettes - Three embedded references - HTML, CSS, Javascript - which address basic questions, to keep you on track. Not exhaustive, but useful. NEW
Layout Mode - Allows for a different perspective when working on your site. Keeps your design fluid, but allowing auto table-resizing. NEW
Updated templates - Shows editable areas in whatever color you wish. Doesn’t muddle the page with non-editable color blocks.
Flash buttons - Big benefit for those who don’t have flash. Allows you to insert .swf (Flash) buttons for navigation. These are fluid, animated symbols, which add a lot to the aesthetics of a page. NEW
Updated Cut-and-Pasting - Allows cut-and-pasting from Quark and Word without getting a lot of jumbled jibberish, which v.2 and 3 were prone to do. Keeps the formatting.
The manual is excellent, as are the free ’’add-on’’ features...extentions and behaviors. You download these for free, on Macromedia’s website.
The Bad:
The style sheets sometimes still need tweaking in the code. Adjusting style order is the most frequent.
Also a ’’clip’’ text is sometimes placed randomly within styles, which must be removed from the code. You just need to preview before finalizing.
Overall, the best, most capable of all WYSIWYG HTML editors.