phinds said:
I just remember the early stuff I read about it said it generated ASP.NET code (in addition to HTML), which I already knew was VS (which I use) and since I wasn't interested in Microsoft-only server code, I ignored it from then on.
Some years ago, Microsoft's products were not standards-based. FrontPage was a disaster, just for example. But in the interim, Microsoft has moved strongly towards standardization and even openness. Expression Web (which I fear is no longer being developed, in favor of a similar Sharepoint client) IS standards-based, and in both it and Visual Studio, you can tinker with the settings and determine what will be the default version of HTML and CSS that it generates when in WYSIWYG mode. And you can always switch to the code view, which parses according to the standards. Expression Web also has a link-checker and other features that can be very useful. For example, if you change a file name, it will normally correct links within the same web to the new file name.
I develop and maintain websites on both Microsoft and Linux servers, and the Microsoft tools have caused me no issues whatsoever. I do only standards-based code whenever possible.
Both Expression Web and Visual Studio have a very powerful file syncronizer. You can copy a "web" (really, a website) from one site to another, and it will show you which files have changed. Also a very useful feature. Although they both have decent code syntax highlighters, Expression Web has more WYSIWYG power. In Visual Studio, you'll need to code a few things by hand (certain styles and links, for example). It will show you good syntax if you get it right, and bad syntax if you get it wrong, but it won't gen the code for you. Expression Web let's you author as if in Word, and it generates clean code in the background.
Unless I misremember, you can also specify the default character encoding for files, which is important if you are using any foreign language names. I've certainly done my time debugging such issues in the past, and have had little complaint with either.
Although they CAN do FTP, I've always used a separate FTP client (FileZilla) to transfer my files. When I can get it, I've also used the Microsoft Frontpage Server extensions, which let Expression Web and Visual Studio connect directly to servers to edit files and use the built-in file syncing. In recent years, though, it has become less common for sysadmins to tolerate those (it's 3rd-party software), so I'm stuck FTPing again.
I did quite seriously try DreamWeaver but frankly, I always hated it. I was confounded by its user interface, which also changed with each new version. And the last I knew, it was no longer being updated and was no longer up for HTML5 and CSS3.
Visual Studio now supports a variety of different languages out of the box, and even more with added plug-ins.