Despite it being an older editor, I still use Microsoft's SharePoint Designer 2007 for local development, I guess because I'm used to the layout, color coding, and ease of use. I know there are other development packages like Joomla! and Drupal, and I know there are lots of editors that recognize PHP code and such, but I prefer SP Designer 2007 simply because I've used it since it first came out and I like it.
However, I have never figured out how to change the default directory. Upon opening the editor, the default folder it shows is located at c:/users/owner/documents/my web sites/. How would I go about changing that to a different path, like c:/webpages/?
Open Regedit ( If you have never used regedit make sure you back up your keys before making changes.)
CTRL+F and search for my web sites.
Change the keys that shows c:/users/owner/documents/my web sites/ to c:/webpages/
Open Sharepoint designer and when you open or save a file it should direct you there.