ok another quick question. I have dreamweaver 8 on my laptop, a friend suggested it after I decided to build my own website. I also purchased the site point book “building your own website the right way…etc” which i learned in the first few pages that all i need to build a website with is a text editor, a browser and an FTP client. So what the heck is dreamweaver for? I should’ve waited on getting it but too late, now I’m debating on deleting it.
It’s a WYSIWYG editor. It helps when you start getting into more advanced stuff, or just to save you the trouble of hand coding everything.
If you already have it, and it isn’t eating up your HD space, don’t delete it. But don’t rely on it. It’s a design tool, nothing more. I don’t have DW, but if I did, I’d still code in either Notepad++ or perhaps DW’s code editor (I’m fond of the now-obsolete HomeSite, which used to be DW’s code editor), and not rely at all on the shiny WYSIWYG thingy.
Dreamweaver is a really useful tool when you’re starting out in web development, it can take a lot of hard work out of building a website. I learnt html and css though experimenting with Dreamweaver adding basic elements and as I progressed I switched to code view. I wouldn’t relay on it, you really need to look at the code to get the site just right! I’d keep it or maybe upgrade to CS5, you will learn at a faster rate.
using Dreamweaver with a book called “Building your own website the right way”…
hmmmmm :scratch: is that a contradiction in terms? 
if I had to delete 1 or the other, I would get rid of DW and keep the book.
if you’re just starting out, my recommendation would be to learn at least the basics of html and css by hand coding in a text editor. then if you really, really want to, have a play with a wysiwyg type application like DW.
I have to agree with most comments made before me. I.m.o, has Dreamweaver advantages as well as disadvantages. For someone just starting out with design, one of the advantages is the option to switch between code, split and design view. Which give you the opportunity to see what your doing, when not sure. One of the disadvantages, are the way to much build in behaviors.
So like, Kalon before me, I would say keep DW for the learning process. If you decide to keep using it, avoid using those build in behaviors and use it, as Black Max already opted, as a Code Editor.
I was suggesting to not use DW during learning but to hand code in a text editor first.
Sorry, I must have misread you
thanks everyone for all the responses!
as i said, i’m very new so i had no idea how different and contradicting the book and dreamweaver would be.
I guess I will be keeping it and continue with notepad and mess around with DW on the side. Thanks for getting back to me, all very helpful answers
I started out “hand-coding” as I taught myself HTML. Then, Dreamweaver came out and I wanted to give it a shot. I never really got into using Dreamweaver completely to write my webpages. The reason why is because thankfully I had people telling me that I should always try to code by hand, BUT, that Dreamweaver is a great program. So, my recommendation to developers and designers is that Dreamweaver IS a great program and if you learn it the right way and spend time learning every little thing about it from a user-interface perspective, it will speed up your coding time which means projects can be completed faster. There is so much available in it and it is a nice program.
I think the most important thing about being a Dreamweaver user is to make sure you DO have a thorough understanding of the languages involved in making websites before implementing Dreamweaver into your toolbox. You don’t want to rely on Dreamweaver, but use Dreamweaver as a way to get things done faster. Basically, I think a coder has to be able to say to themselves, “If I didn’t have Dreamweaver or if my Dreamweaver file went capoot, I would still be able to do everything that I want to do with a page by hand that I would normally do faster in Dreamweaver.”
Once you have a solid understanding of all the programming languages you use and that Dreamweaver makes possible with just a click, you should be able to use Dreamweaver with confidence and know that you are ONLY using it to speed things up. Not because you don’t know your languages and are just clicking here and clicking there.
I learned HTML first and then I bought a book on Dreamweaver and read everything and basically tried to learn everything I could about Dreamweaver because I knew it was a great program. It will do so much for you and possibly, you can use it to compliment your HTML learning. Have your HTML book open, read it, do the work in a text-editor, have Dreamweaver open and then look at Dreamweaver to see where what you learned in your HTML book is. One thing I always do with a new program is just click everywhere! I’ll click on menus and see what is available, what options there are, what is active, what is grayed out. Just doing that with Dreamweaver if you are not ready to dive into it is pretty good and cool.
For me Dreamweaver is a great program. I use it daily. The Code Navigator is great for switching back and forth from your content to your CSS page. I do think people should be aware that Dreamweaver can be difficult to use if you cannot hand code.
I have started using DW just recently and I’m completely new to the website design. What I figured, is that using DW as a beginner I swithed to the html mode and use the design view just to see the results. In this way I am getting familiar with the hand-coding and I don’t get into the programs functions. Later, however I’m hopoing to explore DW more.
There was once a time where I would have said that using Dreamweaver wasn’t such a bad thing, simply because you can set it up to deploy your pages onto your server through FTP easily, can preview pages and can provide auto-completion.
However, today we’re blessed with tools like Firebug and Git, two tools that take away many of the benefits a “HTML IDE” could ever really provide. I typically write any HTML either through VS2010 if I’m working with ASP.NET or through Notepad++, and deploy my entire project through a cloned Git repository, preferably to a development/test server first.
Dreamweaver 8 is quite simple like to power point tool. but if wish to learn more then please
use normal coding tools like notepad for html. it will development your skill