I'm not sure how this article falls below the bar. It's packed with design resources that programmers can use to make clean, not-ugly sites in very little time.
It seems clear that there are some mediocre designers out there who feel threatened by this.
As a mediocre designer, I'm threatened by great designers, not awful ones. Nice shot, though.
The author is a developer, not a designer. And I don't see the point of trying to persuade people to not listen to her because she's among the awful designers although they already say they find her writing useful.