It's inefficient, ugly, and unresponsive -- but it offers the thrill of discovery and exploration. It's fun and eye-catching in the same way that 'Where's Waldo?' or 'I Spy' books are.
I feel like that's missing now, for better or worse.
It's all more usable now, but it's mostly all so soul-less.
Modern web design isn't more usable though. This page puts the content front and centre, which is the main thing, and it doesn't suffer from the ever increasing font sizes of designer-driven webpages. It keeps everything stuck in a narrow column, which is unfortunate, but so do most "modern" pages. It doesn't need to be "responsive", it's straightforward enough that reading it on a phone works fine.
