Help with creating hyperlinks in formatted CSS text

Question

I'm having difficulty adding links using Dreamweaver. I first
format the text with a CSS style, then use the Properties window to
add the hyperlink (or Insert>Hyperlink menu). It creates this,
<p class="linkbodyleftcol"><a href="
http://www.amcc.com">AMCC</a></p>
However, when I place the cursor on AMCC in the design
window, most of the CSS styles I see in the CSS Styles menu are
crossed out with a message "...does not apply to your selection
because it is not inherited. It is applied to a closing tag."
To correct this, I modify the code to:
<a href="
http://www.amcc.com"><p
class="linkbodyleftcol"AMCC</p></a>
And this clears up the error. However, there must be a more
efficient way to add links while retaining CSS formatting. Could
someone point out a better method?
Best regards, -gary

Answer 1

But wouldn't this still entail adding a hyperlink in Design
view then editing this code in Code view?
Doesn't DW allow one to enter a hyperlink in Design view
while maintaining CSS? Seems hard to believe something so simple
would require going into the code, since CSS and hyperlinks are two
key ingredients in web design.