> HTML/CSS is nothing more than a way to describe the way a page should look like.
That completely misses the viewpoint of a standards guru (for HTML). HTML should describe semantics, meaning. No, I can't tell you what gives it meaning, even after 12 years of arguing about it...
The hours I've poured into debating "What is the best markup structure to mark up 'X'" (where there's no obvious HTML equivalent) is embarrassing. It mattered because as it had meaning it had to be right. Never mind that nothing read or interpreted the meaning so carefully inserted. It was about being part of a bigger movement and doing the right thing.
I used to refuse to do things for clients that weren't semantic, which blurred the line. This would now be laughable. Yet I feel empty on the inside in the 'new world' - if HTML and CSS are just the presentation framework, then nothing has the purpose or can support the meaning that writing good HTML used to bring.
It's the end of an era, and I would retire from web development if I could find another industry that brought the same challenges and successes as online in 2003. I've diversified and become a full-stack developer, but it's too large to maintain mastery of.