the simplest way to explain is it what i said above.
"dreamweaver for website building is the same as rug doctor is to carpet cleaning".
go onto a forum for website building and say i need my carpets cleaned, many will say "i rented a rug doctor and it did a good job, don't bother getting it professional done as you can do it just as good yourself".
we all know rug doctors are terrible, but plenty in-experienced users think otherwise and will defend how good they are. i can't be bothered to get into another debate about this subject as plenty don't have the experience to know that dreamweaver is not a good choice for building sites so i'd be arguing and getting no where. respect the business and get advice from the pro's is my advice, don't go asking carpet cleaners for something they aren't trained in
gary: sorry i didn't mean i'd get into an arguement with you, but i know others have done in past with me and i'm tired after the one with the other gary for the last few days.
robert: all you need is a decent browser like firefox, notepad++ and www.tizag.com or www.w3schools.com. that's where i started and is where most professionals i know start. start with this and you wont learn any bad habits and will learn exactly what you need to know. if you want a decent site then but don't want to learn this stuff imo there is no short cut, you can't just run an easy to use program to make it just as you can't rent a rug doctor to get clean carpets. my suggestion is hire someone to do it for you. as derek is interested in getting a few sites together i'd suggest learning how to do it properly so he has the best chance of doing something decent.
mike: depends on how you use dreamweaver. if you just use the coding part (forget it's exact name as never used the program properly) then you might as well use something like notepad++ but yes it'd be transferable, if you use the design bit (again unsure on exact name) then you aren't really learning anything worth much that you can transfer to another program as you're essentially just clicking around.
Adam what on earth has the web browser firefox got to do with building a website, one thing only! Seeing what it views like in it... thats it.
Dreamweaver cannot be compared like you have posted. Adobe creative suite is the industry leading program, DW is just a small part of it. Nothing else even comes close. If it does please let the forum know which program it is as the ones you have mentioned aren’t wysiwyg software, DW does the lot it works alongside fireworks flash and photoshop as well as using it as an ftp program. Go and have a look at all the macs in web designers studios near to you, they will have adobe creative suite installed on every one and use it every day, so do the rest of them all over the world.
Do me a favour and look at your one of your own websites,
www.greencleansolution.co.uk in a 800 x 600 screen resolution.... then look at the other
www.cleansurrey.co.uk on a blackberry, enough said I think. Your posting about something that you seem to know very little about.
My point is.... if you know about html and css DW is without doubt the best wysiwyg program available.
The course you are trying to put down is very good even for someone with a basic knowledge of html, the tutor doesn’t allow the student to use of the hundreds of templates available with DW. She starts with the very basics and over the 10 weeks with a lot of homework and looking at many sites like w3 you have mentioned and buying and reading books, someone can build a basic good looking website that will look good and work in all screen resolutions, firefox and mobile browsers. They will also learn how to make templates themselves.
Yes learn html and css from other sources, but when you do dreamweaver is a very powerful tool if you learn how to use it.
Regards,
Paul