I am a young web designer / developer and I love DW.

I use split view almost all the time and I code checking what's going on in a design view.

I know that dreamweaver supply you with bunch of code that you dont really need sometimes... but if you control it over the code view I think is the best tool. And dreamweaver is letting you to used to syntax of hmtl and css.

when i started to build websites i didnt know a lot about syntax... now after a few months of using DW i can code html and css on my own in code view.

I recommend SPLIT view !!!