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Although HTML is a fairly simple language and most people can learn it in a few days, it is very tedious to create web pages in HTML. I used to do it, so I definitely know.
To make web page authoring a little more convenient, there are some nice and free web page composers. For example, Netscape 7.x (Mozilla 1.x) has a composer component. These composers are often WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get), eliminating the need to learn HTML and all kind tags. Furthermore, you can also easily integrate graphical elements using these composers. Using the plain text file approach, it is difficult to ``envision'' how the product will look like.
The drawback of these composers is that they are typically page-oriented. In other words, they are great for constructing individual and static HTML files, but they do not have much to offer to structure a web site, let alone incorporating scripts (client side and server side) to make web pages more dynamic and interactive.
Next up are web site publishing software intended for end-users. Microsoft Frontpage, for example, is intended for end-users. Compared to Netscape/Mozilla Composer, Frontpage is more sophisticated, and it supports web site management. In other words, you can visually see how web pages are linked. Frontpage also offers scripting ability without needing the user to understand any scripting languages.
So, where is DW? DW is an expensive program (US$399 retail, US$99 with education discount) that is intended for commercial web site development. If text editors are bicycles, Composer is a moped, Frontpage is a passenger car, and DW is a camper (with the kitchen sink included).
What is ``commercial'' about DW is its extensive library of scripts and ability to interact with databases on different platforms. Yes, this is the kind of stuff that you need to author a web site that sells product, tracks customers and etc. As a I said, commercial.