What's the difference between a WordPress website and a coded website ( with XHTML, CSS, JavaScript etc...)?

Answer 1

Wordpress is described as WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) it helps non coding people design the website with out dealing with code.

When I helped organizations with thier wordpress site I sometimes found that the code generated has errors for example using !important tags in thier CSS causing errors and bugs.

So there is still something to be said for hand coding a website, to have more control and to generate clear code for programming.

Answer 2

The question is inaccurate, because Wordpress is a Content-Management-System and in primary function not a website builder.
You ought to consider that even if you are using Wordpress you can still use HTML, CSS and JS to alter the behaviour and design completely.

The crucial questions are: How much time do you want to invest in creating a website? Is it worth the effort to start from scratch? Do you want to reinvent the wheel?