I have Dreamweaver (and the whole Creative Suite). I also own several how-to books for Dreamweaver (add those to the cost ). One of these days I'll learn how to use that web-building behemoth, but in the meantime – it's just too quick and easy to use the HTML Editor and VSD for what I want to do. With no previous coding experience I was able to jump right into the Editor and create the code snippets I needed to expand my VSD sites.
Even if the cost were equal for both programs; for me the ease of use and time saved made it an easy decision. And, I'm going to pass on the $400 to upgrade my CS3 to CS5 (I'm tired of forking over the $$$ every 2 years or so for a few minor tweaks and additions).

Given the cost of the Adobe products, I'd do a free trial to see if DW will work out for you.

And if you give the CC products a try and like what you find – keep in mind what Viv said:

I've seen forum members write whole pages of code (free of charge), and Scott "The Head Honcho" wanders the forums 24/7 – including holidays – to make sure we all have the help we need, then there's Eric's how-to site (full of code snippets and how-tos). If that's not enough, further help is just a click away.

Let's not forget that the HTML Editor may not include the Flash Menu Builder, but it goes a step above that and has the CSS Menu Maker included. If you're checking out the trial or free version, I believe that is not in there for those, but it's definitely in the paid version. Much better websites are made with CSS menus rather than Flash.. just sayin'.

Other than that, it's a web building/editing tool it's not a graphics designer. If you feel you need that too then by all means purchase Web Image Studio very cheap right now at $19, or the very inexpensive Paint Shop Pro which rivals any of the highly expensive graphics editing tools for much less than the hundreds they charge also. There are also quite a few very nice graphics editing tools for free available online. Not something needed in an html editor at all in my opinion.

Although the HTML Editor doesn't have a full blown Form Builder, it definitely has all the components to create forms with, built right into the program. Anyone that knows how to make them has all the elements right there at their fingertips. Once again, I don't recall ever seeing a full blown form builder (that didn't need any type of programming setup) in DW, but that was many years ago so they could have added it I guess.

I bought the full cup of all of CC's programs many years ago already. I have since purchased a number of them that have been added since that day. I have paid less than $500.00 for all of my software and image packages, including themes and the new Web Image Studio (on sale right now I believe) which edits better than most image editors I've seen. I have yet to pay a single upgrade fee for any programs I have purchased through CoffeeCup.

I HAVE paid out over $500 in outside software upgrade fees over the past few years for things I use outside of CoffeeCup's offerings. Those programs will need to be updated again any time I want the new features they offer. That is not something I relish having to do after being spoiled with CoffeeCups no upgrade fee policy.

FTP is most definitely built into the HTML Editor also, not sure why you don't think so. Set up a Website Project and you have full FTP access to your server that way. This gives you full Local and Server tabs to download and upload anything in your website project. Got something that's not in your project to upload? Just put it in there and upload it then lol. It's really not rocket science.

The HTML Editor does exactly what it says it will do ... Edits HTML. From there you can do CSS Menus, Create your own forms from scratch (you will need programing for this, but... this is a text editor not a form builder), Edit and highlight CSS, PHP, Javascript, XML, and a lot more I'm not thinking of at the moment and it's totally up to date for HTML5 and CSS3. Truly what more do you need?

As for the prices, you'll pay less than $300 for the entire lot of what programs like DW include. There are only 2 programs that hit the $129 prices (might actually be one, I would have to look) and most are under $50.00. The one that is $129 and there's one for $89 I think are for shopping cart software which I guarantee you are not in other web building programs for HTML. So those 2 right there are the bulk of the prices you'd pay.

When you're considerinig the price of this software, do realize that you don't need every single thing that they offer, and by doing what they do they give you the option to tone down what you need instead of buying bloated software that you'll never possibly use all the features of. Each program offered here has a ton of features also. Much more user friendly than DW or anything comparable will be. The other thing you get here is
....

LET ME HEAR IT PEOPLE!!!!!!

SUPPPPOOOORRRRTTTT!!

oh yeah, that little thing that many software companies want to make you pay for. The user forums here are tremendously helpful, and you will NOT find all the flaming going on here, this is strictly for helping eachother and posting fun things. Ask a question... or make a comment lol,... and as you can see you will find a lot of users that actually participate here. Most everyone that watches these forums is helpful or being helped. Very few people ever walk away from these forums without having found their answers in a search, article or from a users answering their questions.

I GUARANTEE you will not get that at any other web building software forums. AND if that's not enough, tell them what you want! They take suggestions here very seriously (but be realistic of course, don't tell them to combine their other software into, they are trying to be a business here you know and it works for them this way, and for us too.

Can't get an answer from the forums or maybe don't want to ask the users? Then put in a Support Ticket and you've got answers around the clock. Most people get their answers finished within a day or hours, they will even help you by connecting to your computer remotely if you have a really bad problem and try to help you set something up or fix it. How many companies will do that?

I can't say enough about CoffeeCup, they listen to our suggestions, they fix things constantly. Any time there is a bug found it's fixed almost right away or very soon if they are already working on a new build. Try it before you get such a negative attitude on it. Trust us, you won't use half of what is included in those bloated software programs, which means not only do you pay less, but you then do not EVER pay to upgrade it! How cool is that?

*end rant book* lol

Why do all of you think I'm being negative? I'm just trying to make a good purchase decision. All I did was Google to find websites that ranked WYSIWYG HTML Editors. What I found was that DW was #1 on almost all of them. I also asked a few people I know who design websites and they all told me that DW has more wizards, templates etc. for someone learning to design websites. Recognizing that they might be prejudiced, I also chose to use your forum to get other opinions. I also found that CC was in the top 10 on most of the ranked lists but priced much lower than DW. When I investigated the CC website I found that in addition to the HTML Editor and the similar Visual Editor (sorry I'm not familiar with all of your acronyms) the website listed several separate software programs for things such as building flash menus, customizing graphics, FTP, videos, passwords, etc. When I saw this list of separate programs that could be purchased to do these things, I had two reactions. 1) they must not be included in the two primary programs; and 2) they must be necessary to design a good website. How can you fault me for making those assumptions? I don't even know that I need or want flash menus. To be honest, I don't even know what a flash menu is. I was only making assumptions based on what I saw on the CC website. I'm also not driven by the cost of these programs. I'm driven more by value. Hence the title of my posting. In fact, if cost were my primary driver, I would use Expression Web from Microsoft, as it is included in my company MSDN partner package. You are all throwing around terms that mean nothing to me. I want to redesign (copy and paste) an old website that was created years ago in FrontPage. I know nothing about HTML, CSS, or any of the other web-based technologies. However, I do know computers and my company, based on my designs, develops very sophisticated mission-critical software applications using Visual Studio.
Perhaps you can tell me this...Can a website like the one at the following link be designed with CC?
https://www.mbfs.com/mbfsr/en/misc/mbfH … 3212361674
Also, in response to David Wilson, not to beat a dead horse, but you can buy the full DW CS5.5 at the Adobe website for $399 any day of the week (see link below)
http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver.html

I don't think anybody was thinking you were neg just giving the info you asked for.

After three years with VSD and associated programs, i would not be able to!
But i bet there are some more competent users of CC than me who could
In a nutshell you get out what you put in, thats a lot of weeks of learning, for an amateur

Well... Technically, a site like that "could" be designed with a simple text editor.

Realistically, web-site design is a blend of artistic and technical skills. BUT, the tools that CC provides (at quite a value, I will add) will make designing a site like that easier. As with ANY software, there will be learning curves, and you won't design a site like that your first go (I wouldn't expect, anyway), but after time and experience set in I don't see why you couldn't do that.

Ahh yes, the big cup.. I remember it fondly

I've heard good things about Expression Web. If I were starting all over again, I'd go for that before Dreamweaver. Another thing about Dreamweaver; if you don't write your own code, you may need to add some Dreamweaver Extensions to get your site the way you want it. Some are free and some cost a few bucks (shopping cart – $200). Same thing with the CoffeeCup (CC) Editor; you may need to look outside the program for some things if you don't write the code yourself (slideshows, forms, carts...).

One thing to think about – No matter what software you use, you may find that copying/pasting an old Front Page site might open a whole new can of worms, since you'd still be using the old, out-dated FP code. I know there's a thread around here somewhere concerning a similar situation (where the old frame-based site wasn't 'translating" too well). It would be worth up-dating your design/code so it displays properly on mobile devices.

I'll throw another idea out here. If you want to do something like that Mercedes site (with no HTML/CSS/JS) experience, have a look at WordPress. (I didn't see it in the site's source code, but it certainly resembles many WP themes).

If you want ease of use, try CC Visual Site Designer (VSD). VSD allows for easy insertion of other CC-created items such as forms. But it wouldn't be possible to paste FP code into it.
If you get the 'Super Pack' deal, it has 29 programs (including VSD and the Editor) for $329:

https://www.coffeecup.com/store/superpack/

As someone who has spent way too much money on software I don't use , I don't think you're being negative, more like just weighing all your options. All the above programs (CC, Adobe, Ex. Web) have free trials. That's the best way to see if it will work for you

Thanks for all of your feedback. It's not your fault, but I feel that the more I learn about this subject the further I get from knowing what to do. The websites all make everything look and sound so easy but I know from experience that easy for some is extremely difficult (if not impossible) for others.

I've always tended to use the Internet to look to the "experts". However, I feel that the information on the Internet is becomming less and less a source for good solid independent comparative analysis and more and more about self-serving, if not fraudulent, promotion. And I'm not referring to you guys, but all of the so-called "reviews" and "independent" articles that tout one product or another.

The one thing I have slowly realized from all of this is that you cannot rely on what people tell you. You have to take the plunge and learn for yourself. For the professional website designers, trained in the latest technologies, the choices seem to be more clear. But for those of us who are not prefessionals but still want to design a quality website, the choices are much more cloudy. As time consuming and confusing as it will be for me, I guess I have no choice but to give a few of the free trials a whirl and let you know what I learn.

Good luck on your research monkjr, and don't hesitate to ask questions here should you have any at all, many of us use quite a few of the programs so I'm very sure someone will be able to answer your questions and many times the staff of CC chimes in to help out too. Enjoy the trials