Learning to edit the html by hand will always stand you in good stead. Various editing tools out there are just that TOOLS. You will learn far more working natively.
Frames do take a wee bit to get used too. These are the stages I use.
1) Develop the individual pages in whatever manner you prefer
2) Write the framset page and check initial pages load
3) Edit links within pages to point to the correct frames
My own preference for text editors are
1) Editpad Classic/Lite for general work
2) Editpad Pro for html, javascript, css etc
Glad you got things sorted.
