thewaver wrote:PS: Rachael, I'm a professional developer with 15+ years of experience, a third of which in web technologies, and I have been one of the key contributors of an app with >300M users. If you'd like to have a discussion about the status quo of web technologies in a different medium then drop me a line

Products can be popular in despite of their UIs - so mentioning some app had 300+M users and uses <insert tech here> doesn't in any way prove that the technology was good (or bad).
There are plenty of UI's that are absolutely horrible yet widely used for one reason or another. Here's a few examples: Windows 10 design language, which we all use because there's little choice. I'm yet to meet a single person that thinks white-on-white is a good design, or someone applauding them for their new settings panel. Microsoft Teams because its conference part works, but my god is the rest of that program an UI horror story.
Also, is 15+ years of experience supposed to be impressive? The first product I designed that turned people into millionaires was written before that.
