ha, ah the memories. On my first web job (late 90s) my boss interviewed a guy who was bragging about one pixel borders around an element that were all background colored table cells. (each had to have an image in them to force the cell size, remember doing that?) I knew how to do this, but I said it just wasn't worth doing.
I think this is how web tech works best, when you see the best way coming down the pipe, don't waste time on hacks. But I admit, floating was the only way to make columns for far to long.
I know grid is taking a long time to take root. I primarily only use grid-template-columns, grid-gap and areas or really only needed for major/complicated layout.