I'm a long time Dreamweaver user -- but like others, I've been quite reluctant to move up from DW8, the last version before Adobe bought Macromedia to get Flash and DW. (The first version of the "CS" creative suite after the purchase was roundly panned by many rank and file developers I came across. I don't know if subsequent versions have been better but the $200 upgrade stinks -- though MM was equally mercenary at times.)
As others have said, DW
can be used in WYSIWYG mode -- but it's entirely possible to use WYSIWYG mode to create web page code that bollixes up the whole business --
unless you go into the code and unfugg it by hand. But that's pretty much pandemic for any sort of sophisticated web editor, since there are, oh, about a jillion ways to do anything -- NONE of which will work for all the browsers out there, for the most part.
The HTML standards process was JUST about getting straightened out when a certain large and very successful computer, software, phone and consumer electronics company decided to start playing
heavy politics with the standards process and really poisoned the water -- forcing the committee to finally agree to disagree on a video standard. Most partners
had wanted a standardized video codec at the heart of the HTML5 video standards -- but because that certain large company leaned hard on the process, simultaneously being obstructionist and going to the general media to wage a patently dishonest campaign against some of their former allies and, some would say, against the very standards process itself, the committee just wrote the codec
out of the standard. Nice.
Anyhow, it's all a mess, now, no question. The HTML5 standards process has been thoroughly politicized and corrupted and we're likely entering yet another period like the late 90s and early 00's when developers need to write different code for different browsers and platforms thanks to the perversion of the standards process.
At any rate, learning HTML (which in the modern paradigm is where your content and basic markup lives) and CSS (which is where you format and style your content, customizing alternaitves for different browsers and platforms to the extent necessary) is probably as important as ever for rising above simple designs. (That said, many folks only need simple designs. You can make a very elegant and effective page with relatively simple code or by using good CSS templates [though there is a lot of crap out there].)
One alternative I keep trying to dish up the time to explore is the open source, free BlueFish 2 editor.
http://bluefish.openoffice.nl/ Looks, from quotes from dev sites and such, that at least some folks think BF2 is one of the better editors out there. But I just haven't had a chance to explore it.
[EDIT: Decided to DL BlueFish 2.0. It looks like it's got some good features but those who are looking for WYSIWYG should keep looking -- or get into the old school approach of writing code in an editor and viewing the changes in an open browser window -- and with Chrome and Firefox, you have a number of developer oriented tools either built in or easily addable, that can, for instance, allow you to see the CSS hierarchy of a give object -- cascades, if you will; I guess that was what the founding fathers figured we'd call them.]