Can someone recommend a really good online web design course, using Dreamweaver 8 on a Mac?
Not free, but very good: www.lynda.com
I use their books to teach in classes, and they are pretty direct and easy to follow.
You might just want to try a few sample lessons, and I think you can even sign up month to month, which might be cheaper for you.
And lest I forget, www.w3schools.com is FREE, but not Dreamweaver. Still, you can probably learn a lot using XHTML.
Have at it. Generally speaking, university sites have very good training.