HTML then CSS then JavaScript. I've taught all three and people struggle more in a different order. HTML is the skeletal architecture, CSS is just styling, then JavaScript is behavior. Those three things in that order are like orders of "need". You need HTML first to have a webpage structure, then styling to make it easy to understand its elements, then the behavior is more complex than both. I don't know why I see people put JS learning before CSS... JS is much more complex than CSS, and a much different change in paradigm from HTML than CSS is.

What exactly do you still use or need jQuery for?

It's mostly a wrapper of JS functions that takes care of compatibility, and makes code more readable.

Compatibility isn't really a consideration nowadays.

I like the API.

HTMX anyone?