Dreamweaver and ATO/WP

Hi
I am new to WP (and ATO) and website building in general.
I have been having some frustrations using the editor in WP (3.0.1). I added the tinyMCE Advanced plugin which has helped, but still having difficulty formatting the page/tables - the tables don't keep the "shape" i set it to, and it keeps adding blank spaces where I don't want them (even though I keep deleting them)... etc.
Some people recommended I use Dreamweaver as a desktop editor.
If anyone has used Dreamweaver and WP (and ATO - I want to stay with this theme - it is great) - could you please let me know if you feel it is a good choice/option?
I already have a copy of Dreamweaver (came with the Photoshop CS5 creative suite), but it is rather complicated and if it is not necessary (it won't solve these problems) then I would rather not use it. But if it will make my life easier in the long run, then I am all for it!

Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Dona