Different types of software are used for designing a website, depending on the complexity and type of the website
Notepad
Microsoft Frontpage
Microsoft Publisher
CoffeeCup HTML Editor
Dreamweaver 8 – Used to code your site, free trial version available
Dreamweaver CS3(Dreamweaver 9)
Photoshop CS2 – for photos, images, modifying images
Fireworks 8 – Have never used, believe also 2d manipulation and style creation software
Flash 8 – For creating flash animation
GIMP – open source software for animation