People were moving to version control for web sites in the late 90s when their projects started turning to chaos. Virtualization of servers started when the to

People were moving to version control for web sites in the late 90s when their projects started turning to chaos. Virtualization of servers started when the tooling became available around 2005. Linux containers were available, and used where it made sense, in 2010. The name Ajax dates from around 2005, and before that it was called "remote scripting". First version of Google Maps dates from this era, and would be called a ~SPA~ today. I think the difficulties you describe are caused by cargo-culting - being lured into using platforms/frameworks because their landing pages are just so damn glitzy, with little understanding. The visual surface of the web makes into a medium for fashion, and people are drawn to shiny things and vulnerable to fashions. What's needed are people who are both cold headed and have good taste.