I started with AOLPress in 1997. It was a pretty sad program, but it taught me the very basics of HTML. It wasn't much later when I learned I could code the page in Notpad, and have complete control of the coding. I started using Notepad, and have stayed with it ever since.

I believe it works well to get a basic understanding of the fundamentals of HTML in a wysiwyg editor, before digging into code with Notepad. The entire process of coding a page from scratch can be daunting to a beginner.