In the late 90s, web design was a nightmare with limited tools. Pages had no CSS, and HTML was written in all caps. Design consistency was challenging, leading some to not style anything at all or give each page a unique look. Web-safe colors were limited, and making site-wide changes required manually updating every page. Framed navigation was common, and Apache server-side includes were a workaround. The Space Jam website, still up after 24 years, showcases 90s web design, with tables used for layouts and image maps for navigation. Thumbnail grids were a challenge, with Space Jam using a table for a 3×3 grid.
https://eev.ee/blog/2020/02/01/old-css-new-css/