Where I'm at on the whole CSS-Tricks thing
chriscoyier.net> "...serious learning curve just in getting comfortable operating the basics"
Perhaps this worked against you.
Wordpress can get complicated, but there's no excuse for "the basics" to be gated by an ominous warning sign: "serious learning curve ahead".
I didn't know until now that CSS-Tricks was Wordpress! Never would have guessed. Now I'm wondering how much it was sold for, and also wondering what the most anyone has paid for a Wordpress site is!
I love WordPress. It often times feels to me like the React of content management systems. Most used, most hated, infinitely powerful.
> React of content management systems. Most used, most hated
I don't think React is even close to being as hated as WordPress. Most people are "ok" with React and think it does the job, but many people consider WordPress to be awful.
I personally like and use WP too, there isn't any self-hosted CMS alternative as powerful as WP.