Ask HN: How does a 1990s web developer get back on track?

SPAs are only really necessary for certain use-cases, and while having a strict client-server separation does have benefits, it also incurs upfront costs.

You can still get by perfectly well generating HTML server-side with PHP or Perl and MySQL. You may want to check out MariaDB, a fork of MySQL by the original creator if you haven't heard of it. Postgres also finally just added upsert (INSERT ON DUPLICATE ...), which might be the last real barrier to migrating from MySQL, so if you don't have a ton of lingering MySQL-specific knowledge, you might want to start with Postgres, as it seems to be the default in a lot of FOSS situations these days.

There's certainly been lots of innovation in server-side web frameworks and ORMs in PHP and Perl since the 90s. I can't speak to Perl but Slim is a good PHP microframework and Propel is a nice ORM, though there are also more heavy-duty frameworks such as Laravel.

If you don't mind learning a new language, I would recommend Python for any backend web development that doesn't require squeezing out as low response times as possible, which gives you the excellent Flask + SQLAlchemy, or Django if you prefer a little more hand-holding.

You can still use JavaScript to add interactivity without making a SPA. jQuery, Backbone, and React would do that in increasing levels of abstraction.

In the grand scheme of things, the changes to HTML/CSS since the 90s have been relatively small. If you use Bootstrap you might not even have to worry about them too much.

In summary,

- MySQL or Postgres

- Generate HTML server-side starting with a PHP or Python microframework and ORM, upgrade to a batteries-included framework if you discover you need it

- Use Bootstrap

- add interactivity with jQuery or (if you want to learn it) React (React-Bootstrap is nice); switch to full SPA if you discover you need it (in that case you'll probably want react-router, SystemJS, and JSPM)

- use Heroku or equivalent to avoid system administration

- with the combination of cross-browser libraries (jQuery, React) and the latest versions of all the popular browsers having fewer and fewer inconsistencies, you actually don't need to worry too much about how to support multiple browsers unless you want to support really old browsers that only make up a few percent usage share combined.

1) Focus on HTML/CSS and use a static site solution (github pages + jekyll is hard to beat). When you need more, learn the JS necessary to make it happen, and perhaps move beyond static and into more JS-front-end territory as needed.

2) Tap into your PHP memories and take a look at Laravel and specifically laracasts.com. I'm not proselytizing (I actually don't use php or Laravel), but it's a really solid framework with a vibrant and heterogenous community. It may not where the cool kids are, but it's a great way to be productive and it seems to be constantly improving.

Good luck!