It's amazing to me how many "web developers" don't actually seem to know how to write pure html/css anymore by hand. They rely on these gigantic frameworks to d

It's amazing to me how many "web developers" don't actually seem to know how to write pure html/css anymore by hand. They rely on these gigantic frameworks to do literally everything. Like a lot of Gen X/Gen Y oldsters, I wrote my first web page in Notepad in 1995 or so and uploaded it to my ISP hosting, after undergoing a "bootcamp" that consisted of reading W3C specs, Netscape.com tutorials, going on Usenet, and viewing source on a bunch of other people's pages, sitting all night on my grandfather's Pentium desktop (because we dialed up to get online) and listening to Mine Inch Nails on headphones. Someone in here points out that complexity produces friction that will drive consumers away. Good. Not all technology has to be a product you can pimp to a VC in an elevator. I love the idea of Web0, of building a new web that requires a bare minimum of engagement on the part of users rather than simply making everything as easy as possible. There's more than enough brightly lit malls in the metaverse, where everything is just a funnel to catch your attention or your money. But there's also infinite space for simplicity and the digital equivalent of "roughing it", of applying the concepts of appropriate technology to online interaction. Viva la Web0. :-)