There is nothing better than hand coding your HTML and CSS, that way you know exactly what is happening and where, sometimes not quite why depending on which browser you're testing in . I certainly would not recommend using DW to write code.

I use Dreamweaver, but only in code view and I write my own code. I use it because there are some features like snippets (my own of course) which is great for repeating both HTML and CSS code, colour coding, find and replace, ease of preview in different browsers, and keeping all the codes, files and upload info in one place.

You are better off learning code and hand coding your sites. I only use DW to view my code markup (Live Code) and to use the feature Live View to see my work as opposed to saving an HTML editor and going back and forth (Not only that - but can test in all browsers with a click of a button). IMO - honestly - it is quicker to hand code code in DW as opposed to copy, paste or insert this and that. Not only that - but have you seen the mess DW leaves in their coding (this comes the term What You See Is What You Get)