What's with the '90s Web site?

I've had many people complain that I should update the look of this Web site; it looks like a relic from a few decades ago. Point taken. Here are a few of my reasons, some more defensible than others.

1. I assume that most of my visitors come looking for information, not glitz.
2. The Web was originally designed to be read, not watched. I still believe in that original goal.
3. Simply written Web sites load and display quickly on a wide variety of browsers.
4. I put in a lot of links. Of course a primary motivation for the development of the Web was to interconnect related information, so having lots of links seems to me to be in the spirit of the medium.
5. HTML is the language the Web uses for describing Web pages, designed to show the content and structure of a document but not its presentation. Presentation, in theory, is up to users and their browsers. These days HTML is rarely used as intended, instead pages often circumvent that separation and force a particular presentation; I'd rather leave most of that to you and your chosen browser. This is especially important for those with accessibility issues.
6. I learned HTML while still a professional software engineer and still like programming in it. But I've never gotten too far into CSS, the language the Web uses for presentation hints.
7. I designed this site awhile ago when my business was starting, and I'd rather focus on my work with students than flashy Web design.
8. That weird design on the left? That's a proof without words that the sum of the angle measures in a triangle is 180°. Keep looking until you see it.
9. I'm a little bit ornery.

If you're not a fan of my old-school design, I hope you're mildly amused or that at least you can forgive me.

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