> How could you possibly consider writing HTML and CSS by hand? Those are just the output.
You know, HTML is rooted in SGML and digital humanism. The entire point of it is that you use it as a simple means for self-publishing of digital text (and HTML 5 "standards" portray it in that role, in case you've never had a look).
Granted, that isn't quite apparent when looking at the trainwreck that is HTML/CSS/JS. The solution (with SGML at least) is that you use your own custom markup vocabulary, including custom Wiki syntax for markdown and other short form syntax, and then convert that into result markup for delivery. The idea being that nothing can be as lasting for your specific purpose than your own text format.
But the self-proclaimed web heads didn't get it. They made CSS so absurdly powerful and "meta" to cater for the historic shortcomings of HTML, which is just a format for casual academic publishing locked in 1991. Not considering that you can, in fact, define your own elements and meta rules. Or at least, I don't have another explanation for the fact that everything around HTML has to change ad absurdum while HTML has to stay the same while it quite obviously isn't a good fit for the vast majority of content on the web. And that for some reason you absolutely have to send the same HTML to your mobile that you send to your desktop, and that CSS absolutely has to be the place to shift, re-layout and hide content for these different purposes.
no one that lived through the SGML/XML days would describe it as anything close to "simple." That's why the world has developed countless ways to get away from it all... JSON, yaml, markdown, etc. etc.
The world prefers ad hoc rather than formal and verified. Worse-is-better strikes again.
Which is ironic now that we have garbage like GraphQL and TypeScript moving us back to formalism, but built on top of dynamic ad hoc structures. Guys... this... this is bloody fucking ridiculous. It's like trying to build a house out of wet tissue paper.
Yes I did know that and I have had a look. Sass and CSS-in-JS were a godsend at their times. I give that all up so I don't have to type `sass watch` in the terminal once?
You make sense. The high-leveling and not refactoring adds to the service industry of jobs and con-Z-umerism. Since they look in the mirror showing of, the mirror answers "awsome" for any new flimsy blob addition. It all starts with both: hardware and software, both should be tuned within your philosophy. See my initial post on this page.
> I didn’t need 99% of its features anyway
Oh, then it was already a terrible fit. So why are you advising people on how to replace Wordpress?