You only needed to learn some HTML. There was no CSS, no JS, server-side rendering was non-existent or limited to some very specific features provided by your host (visitor counters were popular, maybe even a guestbook where visitors could leave a message if you wanted to get fancy!).
> You only needed to learn some HTML. There was no CSS, no JS…
The page linked in response is mostly CSS, and (I just went to a laptops to check) the first few lines are javascript google tags.
I think the original point was supposed to be that websites used to be just content wrapped in some simple HTML, which was easy to learn. But now the level of complexity is higher and so is the barrier to entry. I agree with this point.
So when someone replied saying “what’s stopping you from [building simple HTML sites] in 2022, thats what I did”, I was confused to see a site that included JS and was mostly CSS. Because it was seemingly trying to contradict a point about no CSS and JS. Honestly it feels like spam.
Its tangental, but I agree the source seems hand written and seems to have a well done minimalist approach, which is respectable. I regret the negative tone to my original response.