Learning vim is more of an obstacle than using Notepad++ and FileZilla would be.

As a beginner, you know only enough to pass by. You can do a lot with just passing by, so long as you don't bump into places you can't get yourself out of. "Just enough command line and vi to edit a file" is a bit magic, but plenty of the other stuff involved is going to be as opaque.

I think the skillset of "learn how to write websites in a short time" is going to involve some level of "here's this stuff I have to do in just the right way" anyway.