A lesson many developers have to learn is that code quality / purity of engineering is not a thing that really moves the needle for 90% of companies.
Having the most well tested backend and beautiful frontend that works across all browsers and devices and not just on the main 3 browsers your customers use isn't paying the bills.
If you're telling a craftman to ignore their craft, then you're falling on deaf ears. I'm a programmer, not a businessman. If everyone took the advice of 'I don't need a good website' then many devs would be out of business.
Fact is there's just less businesses forming, so there's less demand for landing sites or anything else. I don't see this as a sign that 'good websites don't matter'
I think there's a difference between seeing yourself as a craftsman / programmer / engineer as a way to solve problems and deliver value, and seeing yourself as an HTML/CSS programmer. To me the latter is pretty risky, because technologies, tastes, and markets are constantly changing.
It's like equating being a craftsman with being someone who a very particular kind of shoe. If the market for that kind of shoe dries up, what then?
I sure hope no web dev sees tbemself only as an HTML/CSS programmer. But I also hope any web dev who sees themselves as a craftsman can profess mastery over HTML/CSS. Your fundamentals are absolutely key.
Its why I'm still constantly looking at and practicing linear algebra as an aspiring "graphics programmer". I'm no mathematician but I should be able to breath matrix operations as a graphics programmer. Someone who dismisses their role to "just optimizing GPU stacks" isn't approaching the problem as a craftsman.
And I'll just say that's also a valid approach and even an optimal one for career. But courses like that aren't tailored towards people who want to focus on "optimizing value" to companies.
Having the most well tested backend and beautiful frontend that works across all browsers and devices and not just on the main 3 browsers your customers use isn't paying the bills.