Hmm, thread's getting kind of long, but what the hey, one more post...

After having read the entire thread I think it could be summed up with, "Pick the right tool for the job." When I need to do work that will involve a dynamic ASP.NET data-driven site, I use Expression Web and Visual Studio 2008/Visual Web Developer because they have excellent support for that technology (and Dreamweaver has so little as not to count). For other sites, including those with dynamic PHP applications, I might opt for Dreamweaver CS4.

Now, for those occasional small local business 4-5 page "brochure site" contracts, or local clubs, civic organizations, etc., it appears that with XWD I will be able to turn out the kind of attractive, static sites that such clients are interested in having in significantly less time than it would take in the more sophisticated programs.

Granted, I probably won't want to bring them into either DW or EW, but then, why would I want to? The client couldn't care less what the HTML looks like, and wouldn't recognize it if he saw it. If he needs mods, open it up in XWD and change it. I could probably add some limited dynamic capabilities with the placeholder feature using PHP if needed. The client gets what he wants, I get paid, evahbody happy.

You don't use a carpet tack hammer to do framing, or a roofer's hatchet to hang drywall. I haven't even downloaded the trial of XWD yet, but I have checked the sample site and run it through Cynthia Says and the w3c validator, and I'm impressed. I wouldn't use it for a dynamic site, but I can think of a number of sites I've done that would have been quite handily accomplished in XWD.

That said, can I raise one more hand for a little bit of semantic markup? At least the heading tags would be a nice start... ;-)

Nice job, John, and I'm looking forward to what is yet to come. Now, off to download XWD and start experimenting...

cheers,
scott