Back then, all sorts of designs made the web a marvel. Until algorithms kicked in. We stripped the design in favor of machine-understandable information composition. So our thing would be most recommended by AD-pumped services/listings/directories. At the end, outreach mattered more than an elegant product. Unfortunately still does.
In addition to that, Apple and Google started enforcing style guides for apps, so a lot of the unique UIs that came about in the early days of the app store died out in favour of soulless, boxy designs that would scale well on mobile and tablet.