The QWeb template engine can actually be used for many things other than basic reports. Besides reports, the QWeb template is also the main way that all of the website builders and new CMSes generate the HTML to create pages. In reports, QWeb works in exactly the same way since it generates HTML; however, it directs the output into a PDF file instead of the browser page.
The great part about this is that once you really learn how to modify reports in QWeb; that same skill will allow you to create dynamic web pages that can tie directly into Odoo. This is a powerful reason to learn QWeb.
