For me the most important aspect was/is the code that drives the websites. I’m no artist/designer, I was an early Mac reseller (1982?) and took to heart Apple’s Interface Guidelines which I applied to my web design. The pretty look was done by a Kiwi designer. I once asked him what font he used to write code, he replied “What’s code?”
I started with Claris FileMaker Pro which taught me relational databases. I switched to LAMP using a Claris HTML editor. As HTML progressed I switched to BBEdit which I still use today, great software that does not suck (their motto).
After experimenting a bit I started writing the backend of websites for my Kiwi designer friend. I created a PHP framework. When that became spaghettified I redid it as OOP, much better at organizing code but the websites were still poorly designed. My last iteration was a php OOP semantic (based on HTML5) framework that is working beautifully. I wish some young lad or lass would take an interest in it, at 84 I’m too old to try to take it public. How do I know it’s good? It’s easy to maintain! Perfect for Agile coding.
The Captain