Yes, yes, yes. I earlier said that I agreed that the argument about ugliness was not really very strong. But at the time, I was comparing a web application using CGI and HTML to client server apps using VB.
But you are right that this was not communicated in the article as well as it could have been. What I meant to say was that CGI "applications" tended to be too drab.
As for the right tool for the right job, I would like to quote the conclusion to the "full" article that I have provided links to below...
"As any good technician knows, there is no such thing as a "best" tool. The best tool is dependent on a whole host of factors from the type of task at hand to the personality of the marketing director. The best tool is a fantasy.
Instead, every web developer should have at her disposal a wide array of tools to solve problems. Sometimes a server-side solution will be appropriate, other times a client-side solution will be best. Your main goal as a web developer is to develop an intuition about when to use which. "