It is all getting a bit silly really. The web needs to be accessible and not restricted to those under thirty that know lots about build tools and little about the world. I prefer the web as originally envisaged with the HTML being essentially human readable rather than obfuscated machine code. It doesn't need to be some data rendered on the frontend by scripts that embed CSS, everything works fine if done old school but properly.

After the browser wars, the iPhone, RWD and frameworks we were left with a complicated mess. But CSS Grid, CSS variables and HTML5 semantic tags have came along with Javascript that you can just use without some silly 'jQuery' thing to make it cross browser.

The choice is ever more complication - which is not accessible - or back to basics with sensible document structure - Tim Berners Lee style - and everything accessible. By accessible I mean code that mere mortals can edit and update.

Nobody is asking if what they make can be edited and maintained in ten years time. If you are making the next app, e.g. Instachat for Squirrels so they can find their nuts then yeah, go with the mountain of here today, gone tomorrow build tools. Otherwise, if you are primarily just writing stuff for people to read then all the assumptions of modern web development have to be questioned.

There is a movement out there to 'intrinsic design' and using what the browser does rather than reinventing the wheel. Part of this is to use the CSS Grid layout engine, the HTML5 inputs for validation and CSS variables to make everything responsive. Pages written this way are just plain quicker, easier to maintain and likely to last.