I've been manually coding my websites in HTML & CSS for several years and only recently switched to WordPress-- primarily to make my sites more adaptable to mobile devices. The learning curve is steeper than I imagined. A good analogy would be modern point-and-shoot cameras that are packed with functions and features, but accessing them requires tedious tinkering with display menus and sub-menus. By comparison, my old Canon AT-1 had three dials (time, aperture, and focus). In trying to make things easier, I fear WordPress has made things needlessly complicated.