Now that can continue further it seems.
Actually it sounds like you never were really looking for a āweb editorā as traditionally intended, but rather more of a GUI based WYSIWYG designer instead.
Perhaps by āprimitiveā you instead meant āadvancedā for your current knowledge given your claim to āknow so little of the actual codingā after 16 years. Sure the current Pinegrow UI/UX does not easily afford those with certain types of thinking to comprehend the workflow easily, especially when coupled with the user needing to know CSS, HTML, etc.,
But with Pinegrow v3 that may be somewhat eased for users with the new features (drag/drop), new UI, etc. So keep an eye out for Pinegrow v3 and what it potentially brings. Even if it would someday help you with your HTML/CSS/etc., learning process, or you actually need a āweb editorā in the future.
Let us know how you like Sparkle if you indeed go that route. Perhaps with Freeways rebirth you can continue down that path as well.