As I understand it, early on there was sort of an expectation that users would be defining stylesheets and applying them to websites, exactly like you said: "use light blue background, menu bar horizontally across the top, paragraph text should be 16 pt." etc.
There's nothing wrong with site-provided CSS, but I strive to make my own stuff work with or without CSS.
There's nothing wrong with site-provided CSS, but I strive to make my own stuff work with or without CSS.