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.
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.
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'