What is the advantage of a WYSIWYG e.g. (dreamweaver) editor to coding

[DanFahy]

I'm just starting out, I've got a basic handle on HTML and learning css. From having read lots of different articles I get the impression that if I had worked through something like dreamweaver to start off I would be at a disadvantage but yet also get the sense I will end up using it anyway as many experienced developers do.

1) is the above true

2) what are the pros and cons of wysiwyg web editors

[KGCustoms]

Pros are basically all along the lines of not having to hand-code everything; cons include all the "crappy code" they leave behind and less control over the actual code compared to hand-coding.

[kristeejo]

You can "see" your work as you go - with dreamweaver you can see both the code and design itself. Using dw actually helped teach me html because i could clearly see the code while using the features in dw.

[martinmarzejon]

I won't dwell on the cons as they are very well documented on this forum and elsewhere.

As for the pros, it's a great learning tool on which you can develop a lot. If DW helps you create what you need, then by all means use it, just make sure you take a look at the code that is being generated for you. As you keep developing more complex sites and features, you will be forced to view the code more frequently to clean up things.

If you develop enough, you will not want to go back to WYSIWYG interfaces ever again, you'll notice they actually slow you down in the long run.

~m

[samer]

I started out using WYSIWYG interfaces (Dreamweaver and the like). I found it to be useful as I learned the syntax with time (use the split interface between code and design). However, I decided to move to a non-WYSIWYG editor (TextMate, if you're wondering) and things are going faster, like Martin mentioned.