Whats the best Web Design Programs out there?

What do you want to do? A tool is only as good at the person using it.

If you want to move towards more code oriented designing, where you have more control, then a text editor would be what you're looking for. But if you're looking for more things to be done for you, then Dreamweaver would be what you're looking for.

It depends on what you need.

I agree with Suzanne about only being as good as the person using it.

try a few programs and go with what you feel comfortable with, some programs like PhotoShop can take a little longer to get the hang of but the end result is what works for you. Don't get sucked into the "this program is better than this program because of the price or how many versions or its what the pros use ..."

There arent any programs that will make you great when its downloaded, unless your making certain type graphics and programs like terragen are used (does everything for you, all you do is change sun angle, sea/land contrast, but no good for web design, really)

Dreamweaver is good as it is a wysiwyg editor but it also allows you to edit the code direct by hand so good for tweaking, but I would say download some of the free trials and see which best suits your needs.

Oh, I remember FrontPage, till about 2000. Thats when I got serious about development. You can hard code in FP to an extent before it begins to screw up your stuff and not accept what your telling it to do. And FP extensions are clearly for non-programmers and hold you back when it comes to high level needs. It is mostly for Windows type host, where most host are Ux/Lx.
I had a client once that needed a re-design for her site that the last guy, who charged her $300 for 4pgs, did entirly in FP. It looked like, OH MY GOD! YOU PAID! MY BABY DRAWS BETTER THAN THIS! Anyway, I'm just ranting, back to the subject.
I had gotten FP free, don't tell Bill, with a free copy of Office2000, am I saying too much, that got me off the notepad. So, now I was looking for the best damn HTML editor that money didn't need to buy. I had tried out about 3 or 4 of the most raved about freebie's. There was Soft Lite, Netscape's thing, Aracnophilia (buggy), and a few others I'm sure I'm missing. I even worked with my image app for a while to try and build entire sites with, as if it was a wysiwyg. Then about a year ago I found the editor of my dreams (FREE).
HTML-Kit build 290 had all the curves, plenty of leg room, and boy was it versatile. I could make it do anything I wanted, it would remember pieces of code for me to reuse on demand, there were at least a thousand free modules that you could add to it to automate your task, preview your work, act as your browser, organize your work on and offline, built in autoconnect FTP, tidy up your code, convert it to XML, and check for complience, can color code any language you throw at it, and can even suggest colors to use randomly with CSS. What can I say, I am in love. You can't buy a better professional editor.
Do I sound like a salesman or what. Chami.com should hire me to sell the thing. JucinGTA, listen to what they said above, its all true. But, if I was you, I would definatly give this an honost try. Let us all know what you go with!

I started out with notepad and a book "How to use HTML 3". See how long ago that's been?

I use Dreamweaver now that I know how to hand-code because, frankly, it's easier! I am glad I know the basics though, otherwise how would I have corrected the errors FP put on my pages? Blah. Anyhow, learn to hand-code then choose a good editor to help you with it.

I use Paint Shop Pro 7 along with Adobe Photoshop 5 for my graphics. I started on PS and really liked it! I used it for everything. I haven't looked at 7 yet, as I am so happy with 5. Besides, I have PSP 7

Good luck and post the links when you are done, so we can see the finished product!

Sara

Homesite 4.5 and Photoshop 7 (beautiful!)

I agree with detox. There are a lot of other tools out there that can be helpful but I find that Homesite & Photoshop are the most versatile programs out their for their respective functions (coding & graphics - that's all you need, right? )

I guess I must recant my opinion now. As a designer/developer grows in experience and age, he/she must go through changes, adaptations, and test it all. How else can we get good at what we like.

I have now switch my entire line of tools over to Macromedia with a splash of PhotoImpact. Dreamweaver4 has turned out to be quite an impressive application. So I'm dropping HTML-Kit for now. However, I must still defend HTML-Kit as a dream tool for the straped for cash would-be Webmaster to get started in serious designing. I will be useing Fireworks4 for most of my imagimg except for photos (PhotoImpact). And Freehand9 for professional vectors, logos, non-web print, and illustrations. And of course Flash5 for animation, splash, presentations, animated interactivity, and FUN.

Whats so great about this array of tools is that my capabilities have now more than doubled in comparison. I only hope that I can utilize them to their full potential.

FP2000 does it for me. Don't bother with all thoses built in coding samples and FP extensions. I mainly use it for site layout and navigaton plus the built in FTP sychronizer...