I read many posts here to try to understand - some said you had to reverse in! - which wasted a lot of time. The ship for the first 3 times didn't land to allow me under due to the ground - which I didn't understand. Steep learning curves are fine - vertical ones are frustrating and turn people away. My basic thesis still stands - why make everything so difficult? Why have such a precise alignment for boarding? Who decides? 10cm, 1m, 10m? Someone makes these decisions and thinks - s*d it - let's make it really hard the first time. Mistake.
It doesnt matter the slightest, you can park in using any angle. I've been helping a mate learn the ropes, and he actually had kinda the same experience. Couldn't get it. He got more and more irritated, then frustrated, as he send his ship away and let it land again. Eventually he got quite to say the least. So I landed next to him to see whats up. A little dune was behind the ship, blocking the way. So I said: "Try from the sides." Problem solved.
This discussion is just about perspective. To you its a 'vertical learning curve'. To me, and many others, its not even remotely steep. Sure, we could make it even simpler ('get within a 100m year of your ship and press a random button') but the simpler you make the first time, the more boring the 2nd time becomes. There are people who, after trying for days and watching all vids, just cant land their ships on a docking pad. Is docking 'hard'? Is it 'a vertical learning curve'? Its the same with everything. For some nothing will be hard enough. For some everything will be too hard. The devs try to find a middle way where most can enjoy it, both the first time and the times after that. It looks as you are, with this one specific thing, below average in figuring it out. I am sure you are above average in other ED things, and might want them to be more difficult or 'deep'.
How about this: come back to this topic after you've landed a few dozen times and been roaming around in your SRV, and tell us if you want it to be even simpler or not.