I like this but view it through a different lens to "without JavaScript" or "without flash"

Nroff without Ms macros. Raw troff. TeX not latex. To me that's what "without css" analogizes to. Well.. less functional perhaps.

Same as the author?

So, like my Dillo (mainline) setup with a Lynx or PSP User Agent. Or, maybe, Mothra under 9front.

Often CSS-disabled web sites look better if you set the UA to the ones from Lynx/Links/PSP/Opera Mini. Google/DDG them.

On DDG, just use https://html.duckduckgo.com