I might be starting a debate with this…but I think if you are aiming to be a professional webmaster / designer..then you should go with Dreamweaver instead of Frontpage.
It really depends on the user and his/her preferences. FrontPage (FP) tries to do a lot of the “thinking” for the user, while with Dreamweaver (DW) the user should know at least basic HTML (although the tutorials that come with DW are so excellently made that almost anyone can learn to design decent pages in a short time). DW is more designer-oriented (and you will find more pro designers using it), while FP is more consumer-oriented.
Also…you run the risk of making your site only compatable with Internet Explorer if you use Frontpage.
Like I said…FP is good when you are in the beginning phases of learning web design. But if you really get into it..my guess is you will soon want much more functionality than FP offers. Just keep that in mind before making an investment in a program.
Dreamweaver has a free 30 day trial by the way… you can find it at http://www.macromedia.com.
That said… definatly learn how to hand code html. As you get more into web design…you will find that you have to go in and “hand tweak” the code..no matter what program you use.
As for hosting..I use Prohosters