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52 cards is the first thing I think of when I think factorials. It's such a great and relatable way to convey the subject to people, plus it usually ends up blowing their minds like it did mine when I first learned of it. Not from this page, but from a YT vid many moons ago.

The main.css file it imports dates itself to March 9 of 2005, and is housed in an "ancient history" section of the website that covers everything before October 26, 2010, so: "sometime between those two years" =P

Its first appearance on the WayBack Machine is October 13, 2009, which narrows the range somewhat.

It was made during the brief XHTML craze. (And it's also invalid XHTML)

I still kind of have a soft spot for XHTML, semantic web and progressive enhancement.

To me it feels like a smuggled exponentation. If I take half of 52 and raise it to itself and add a base unit to it like grams or meters, that's an incomprehensibly large amount.