Someone asked me the other day that you spend money on a piece of software, especially Adobe Dreamweaver is worth the money as a tool for web design, or actually creates a web site to work.
Now, personally, my recommendation is one that all web designers and developers I know and all he talked to have said, learn to code.
Although the thought of learning another language, because that's what computer programming is, May seem daunting, to be able to fully code websites that work is something that you will be available on the market, someone who can code will generally do better job and faster than someone who relies on the built-in tools for Dreamweaver. This is because web design has always been about the code, because you know exactly what you are putting in and therefore what will come out. Personally, I only use Dreamweaver because I like the user interface and product comes with other Adobe software that I need, otherwise I would keep an editor such as Notepad ++.
Although customers do not mind that you have created a product that you offer them, it is important to bear in mind that clients are bothered by the speed you can create your product and web design community is a competitive one, you will lose your job if you can not provide as fast as a competitor. Time really is money for every client you meet, the speed at which you can make a website is one of your most important skills, many clients that you will do business with will be a new idea of doing business online, so they need to get online as fast as possible. Even if you charge your clients by the hour, I would never recommend withdrawal from the project any further than it needed to go. It will look bad on the reputation and I'm sure would want the least amount of stress when working with someone on any project that can work on. Getting back on topic, coding means that work can be done is generally much faster than usual, as I said, it is so important in a market that is as competitive as the world of web design.
Web design is about more than the idea of creating web pages from the input of visual elements. My best advice to anyone who wants to start in web design is the design of visual elements that need to be designed with the other, it is the best way.