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(Posting AC because I'm at work and don't log in, not because what I'm about to say is controversial...)

If you use a Mac, get Espresso (free trial version available to test it out). I switched to it a while ago and it's a beautiful blend of hand-coding and fantastic WYSISYG preview. It's a wonderful combination of simplicity and power, imho. After using it on some personal projects, I got my company to switch to it as well and I will not be going back to Dreamweaver unless forced to do so. I highly recommend it. My two cents.

On the Mac, CS doesn't stand for "Creative Suite", it stands for "Complete Shit". I like Dreamweaver on Windows (though I liked it better before Adobe fucked it up) and bought it on the Mac but threw it out in favor of Coda. (Another possibility in MacLand is Espresso, too.).

If I was a rubytard, I would probably recommend nanoc or jekyll.

I use CSSEdit all the time. Its core is a Webkit browser that shows a live preview of CSS changes you make. It's great for AJAX-y, DHTML-y dynamically driven sites that don't always have HTML "pages" to debug.

It's a bit like the Web Developer toolbar for Firefox, but a standalone browser / app for OS X focused solely on CSS and, IMHO, a bit easier to use.

No connection to the company. Just a very satisfied user.

Me too. I bought a MacBook after Christmas, and since then I bought CSSEdit, Espresso, the recent MacHeist3 bundle, iWork, and I'm that close to buying OmniGraffle (except that one's a little too expensive and I'm getting by fine with the free eval version).

I can't remember the last time I actually *bought* software for my old Windows machine.

Mac OS X gets lots of press, but the people who build these great little software apps for Mac should get more praise.

Me too. I bought a MacBook after Christmas, and since then I bought CSSEdit, Espresso, the recent MacHeist3 bundle, iWork, and I'm that close to buying OmniGraffle (except that one's a little too expensive and I'm getting by fine with the free eval version).

I can't remember the last time I actually *bought* software for my old Windows machine.

Mac OS X gets lots of press, but the people who build these great little software apps for Mac should get more praise.

At least for mac users, there are quite a few very well designed and maintained products that are shareware and rival Adobe's offerings in both features and pizazz.

RapidWeaver is an industrial-strength alternative to Dreamweaver which includes an SDK, full drag-n-drop designing interface, coding panel, Flash integration, and site maintenance. Currently it's $49.

Coda is the newcomer on the block, built by one of the best Mac shareware coding companies. As with the others, it allows for drag-n-drop designing and fully supports XHTML. Panic Software's tagline "shockingly good Mac software" is evident here cause they integrate the features of Transmit (their excellent FTP utility) including site/filepath synchronization, drag-n-drop uploading from the Dock... Coda also includes a console that's integrated into the app window that allows for split terminal shells for SSH and other functions. Coda includes a GUI CSS editor and comprehensive HTML programmer's guide in the application itself. $79.

TextMate is the Mac's premiere enterprise-level, yet shareware price text editor that does... pretty much anything. It can handle just about as many language bundles as jEdit but is purely Mac. It integrates well with Transmit, the shell, Subversion, and has a fully customizable code snippet library for full programmer control. I can't even begin to summarize all the features that sets this editor apart from the others, but it easily shames Dreamweaver's code window. Just watch the screencasts on the website. It costs 39.

CSSEdit by MacRabbit is a GUI-powered CSS editor which has a snooping mode called X-Ray that can analyze a website's design similar to Firefox's 3rd party Web Developer addon, except with style, polish, and features that you've come to expect from Mac applications. It includes a CSS "builder" workflow that allows you to use some natural language and object-oriented programming (in the most basic sense) to build CSS effects. $29.95

There are many others including Apple's own iWeb (which is included with every new Macintosh, is VERY easy to use, and puts out bloated-yet XHTML compliant code) and BBEdit by Bare Bones Software which is very comparable to TextMate in many ways.

Oh, true. Whenever I make a new design, I'll usually create a mock-up in Photoshop firsthand.

I then slice out the graphic elements that can't be recreated with CSS, and print out the mock-up on a big 11x17 sheet, and tack it up next to my screen, and then make a CSS layout to produce the same effect.

There was a time when it was consdiered a good idea by mant to almost exclusively use photoshop slices to create a design.

Someday, I pray to god that we'll have a decent WYSIWIG CSS/Layout editor so that we can prototype and design visually. I don't get why we haven't been able to do this properly yet. CSSEdit is the only thing I've used that even comes close.

Speaking of shareware, it's probably worth mentioning that right now, OS X has an incredible selection of shareware available.

Seriously, there are so many astoundingly good programs out there for free/cheap for solving all those pesky annoyances. Independent developers are pumping out titles rivaling the quality of software produced by big companies. It's really a testament to the APIs put out by Apple.

Just to name a few,
quicksilver - data access tool. one of the most innovative programs i've ever used.
CSSEdit - simplistic stylesheet creator/editor. allows idiots to produce valid CSS
Transmit - wonderful FTP client (my only gripe is that this should've been intergrated into the OS itself)
Acquisition - one of the best p2p clients known to man.
Adium X - the power of gaim + the beauty of OSX = priceless
BBEditBBEdit - so it's a bit more well-known than the others here, but is still a marvelous editor. a bit expensive and out of my budget. I use jEdit instead (which is cross-platform, BTW)

just to name a few..... (feel free to add more)

Konfabulator basically returns to MacOS X the functionality of the old MacOS 9-and-under Desk Accessories.

The graphics for their widgets are gorgeous! I really have to applaud the folks at Pixoria for paying attention to detail. I was pretty happy to try it out and return some of the whimsical little things back to my Mac that I used to have under the old OS.

In their implementation, they used Java to run their stuff, so the result is that Konfabulator can be a bit CPU intensive to run. I didn't have quite the performance issues that another poster had, but running more than a couple of widgets did send my CPU usage soaring.

I disagree with the assertion that Apple stole the idea. Returning Desk Accessory function to OS X had always been on the development path. It was simply low enough on the priority list that it didn't get approval to be included until the pending OS release, Tiger.

I will concede that it does encourage one to raise an eyebrow at Apple for calling their DA's "widgets." But I can also point out that if anyone with half a brain was going to steal someone else's idea, they would at least give it a different name. And does anyone in the general public really know when Apple decided on that name for their DAs in OS X?

Early on, there was a critique leveled against Pixoria that rather than just make desk accessories, they should have put their efforts into making an editor that regular people could use to make those desk accessories. Considering that Microsoft is planning on making their own similar desk accessory system, I think that would be a pretty good idea to come up with an editor like that.

For an example: I ultimately decided that Konfabulator didn't have enough value for me to purchase it. But I did choose to buy a program for editing style sheets called, CSSEdit, even though I can easily slap together a style sheet by hand. The idea is the same, sure I could load someone else's work, but I like to see my own stuff.

CSSEdit had value for me because it made it easier for me to manage my own work. Konfabulator is fun, but I can't do my own stuff with it.

Finally, one important thing should be pointed out: just because Apple (and ultimately Microsoft) are going to be including their own DA code into their OSs, that doesn't mean there isn't room for competition! If the people at Pixoria could rewrite Konfabulator to lower-level code that isn't so resource intensive, I'm sure they could make a strongly competitive product. They certainly have set a pretty good standard by the look of Konfabulator's widgets.