HTML and css are way too low level to be productive in, in my opinion. Especially when dealing with wide ranges of screen sizes, browsers, and platforms. The only way I’m interested in touching the stuff is if there are tools to alleviate the pain.
Caveat: not a UI developer, I’ve mostly done backend work And DevOps for quite some time.
I base my comment on the effort required to make a simple web page that a) looks the same across different browsers and devices, b) is responsive, c) supports relatively basic concepts like dropdown menus, columnar layouts, etc...
It’s way too much effort for me to want to mess with, and then you have to repeat the same things for every site you make.
Caveat: not a UI developer, I’ve mostly done backend work And DevOps for quite some time.