I would not call removing a line of code being able to code… but yes, you have to know which line to remove… once we get our codex fully populated there will be help available for all the various functions so that will help immensely…
but to stick on your options thought for a moment, what if you want to reorder and have last post first then first post?? that was impossible in the previous arrangement without going into the core code and hacking away… now you just switch the two lines in your template file and done…
and in the previous version, only a handful of display elements had options for turning off… you were stuck with the vast majority… we would have need dozens more pages of options to even begin scratching the surface of giving our users the power they have been clamoring for…
and studies have shown that the majority of users do actually modify their wp theme to customize it… so yeah, a bit new and potentially unnerving when getting started… but we think that the massive freedom and power it gives you to customize far outweighs the learning curve…
and we will be here to answer any questions you might have! 