New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: Am I missing something (modern webdev)?

Ask HN: Am I missing something (modern webdev)?
3 by anxiously | 4 comments on Hacker News.
I have always tried to build web applications that load quickly, don't require JavaScript (but can be improved by it) and work on any device that supports rendering HTML and CSS. Everywhere I turn there's a new framework or library that depends on complicated build tools, generating mountains of JavaScript and sometimes even generating HTML and CSS. What's wrong with building simple web applications that get things done and don't require build tools, secondary (or tertiary) languages or meta-languages (like SCSS, ERB, JSX, Jade, etc)?