I was wondering if you used a piece of software such as Front Page or Dreamweaver to create websites/pages or if you typed out the code in a word processor/notepad?
I use both Front Page 2003 and Dreamweaver MX, but I'm trying to take note of the code so one day I won't have to rely on seeing what I'm making
A good compromise is to use Dreamweaver (a much better program than FrontPage in my opinion) and look at codeview only. It will help you with html tags, but you can still edit and write them yourself. If you get stuck you can always switch back into the design view.
Sometimes, especially for big complicated sites, using Dreamweaver can be helpful. It can really cut down on the amount of code you have to type in. But as TimedArt suggested, it can be good to spend time using Dreamweavers Codeview mode. It can help a LOT of you know HTML enough to know whether Dreamweaver is writing good code or not -- a lot of times it doesn't.
For smaller sites with simpler pages, I like using a text editor. I've probably created nearly as many webpages with WordPad as I have with Dreamweaver. Another program I use regularly is WebCoder, which has more web-specific features than a regular text editor.