I am new too web design and one of my first college classes is an HTML/CSS class. I'm looking at the source code of some of these random websites and just see like 600 lines of all sorts of crazy codes and css...
My question is does someone actually type all that in by hand, like with notepad, or do you guys have another way of doing it?

Im just nervous because this looks hard to learn

Actually, yes, we do type it by hand in Notepad or in other programs. Some programs have auto complete like Adobe Dreamweaver.

There are ways to help with the repetition of coding, they are called Frameworks and help structure coding and help with repetition of coding. I suggest if you want to get into frameworks, look at the 5 most popular frameworks: http://serenedestiny.com/blog/?p=79

You should learn everything you can to be a great web designer and developer. I wouldn't be where I am today without keeping up to date with xHTML and CSS.

Don't be nervous, I'm sure you will catch on quick and fine. It's hard at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will come natural.

I just started out using dreamweaver and dragging and dropping items to different places, but now I find myself codeing everthing in the text mode of dreamweaver.

I started out with a CSS template and through editing the CSS now understand that fully as well.

It is still nice to have dreamweaver show me the syntax when I need it, but the automatic (design) mode makes an aweful mess of the webpage if you keep on editing with it.

I guess basicaly what im saying is, starting with something like dreamweaver and working as you go, worked fine for me. I think finaly my website is starting to look professional after four months or so of messing around, and I am now quite good at the HTML.

HTML is actualy a very very simple language to learn. You just have to get used to looking at it, and you will with time for sure.

For the designer its very important that he must know about the HTML and CSS.

You really need to know why things work the way they do. Some basic knowledge of HTML is essential to creating a decent site. If you are serious about web design, then you should put out the effort. It really isn't that hard.. Kind of like learning algebra, once you learn a few basic rules then things kind of fall into place.

Good Luck!

Basic HTML and CSS I think is the basic requirements to get a good website design. Most designers I know started with the basic knowledge like tables and slicing. Eventually, by reading and testing out some tutorials, they tend to learn how to manipulate CSS and create some tableless design templates. We all start with the basics. And by means of passion and hard work, it won't be too hard to learn some advance knowledge.

Not knowing enough about HTML and CSS can cause major headaches down the line, meaning after the design phase is over. Knowing the practical reality of the code is very important to begin with, so that you don't make poor design choices.

For example, in Photoshop, it is very easy to make an area with an inner and outer border, which has drop shadows and inner shadows, or any effect you can think of. You can literally just plop these items around on screen as if they are nothing. Often designers add any effect they can think of, even if they are very subtle, without thinking about the practical reality of the code involved in making them. Even something like putting rounded corners on everything can sometimes increase the workload beyond the normal expectations of completing a layout.

I'm not saying you shouldn't feel some freedom to add niceness to designs, but you will find there are projects which don't have the budget to spend endless time making it look exactly like the Photoshop comp. Understanding exactly what it is going to take to make a design into an HTML document is important for a designer to be able to do his or her job.

In the real world, complex jobs are modularized. The design will be done by artists, the markup(HTML/CSS) and browser behavior (Flash/JavaScript) will be done by a front-end developer(s), and the server programming and database work will be done by the back-end developers. Everyone needs to know about the HTML and CSS, however, which means, as a designer, learning this aspect should be a high priority.

I agree with wayfarer07, everyone needs to know about xHTML/CSS and how it works. Sometimes you won't be able to make it look like the design because of slicing and coding. It is important to know the limitations of coding for realistic and beautiful websites.

Personally I use a WYSIWYG editor (like dreamweaver), but I always look over my code and adjust it by hand (just because the code they produce tends to be poor).

If your starting out with web design, avoid looking at big companies code (it tends to be rubbish) look at code from current web designers (it's likely to be a lot better).

A good allround web designer should know xHTML / CSS. However, the first thing is that they should be able to design, as well as build web sites. When we start of design process we always have in the back of our minds the limitations of html/css which I must say is becoming less and less. If you're just starting out, try to emulate some of your favourite sites and see how they are built. You'll pick up a lot in a very short space of time if you do this.

Good Luck