Platform · 1991–now · Web Boom
HTML / CSS
The document layer of the web. Frameworks come and go; tags and stylesheets remain the delivery surface.
Why HTML / CSS stuck
HTML/CSS stuck because browsers are the universal client and accessibility, SEO, and progressive enhancement still start here. Frameworks abstract them; they do not replace them. The fad is pretending the DOM is an implementation detail forever.
Compare with
Related
Platform · 1991–now
HTTP / HTTPS
The application protocol of the internet. HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 are evolutions, not replacements.
Architecture · 2005–now
Ajax SPAs (early)
Partial page updates without full reloads. Became the mental model for every modern front-end framework.
Framework · 2006–2018
jQuery
DOM peace treaty for a fractured browser world. Mission accomplished — then frameworks ate its job.
Framework · 2020–now
Hypermedia / htmx
HTML as the engine of application state — a deliberate counter to SPA maximalism. Peak backlash; now a plateau, not a climb.