For design, also give Xara Extreme a try. Awesome program, a lot cheaper than Photoshop, comes with a lot of useful templates.
For image editing, Paint Shop Pro is good for a beginner too, and the price is reasonable.
HTML - there is no option to Dreamweaver. But for an absolute beginner, you could also try Netobjects Fusion, or even Mozilla Composer (free, comes with mozilla, now called seamonkey)