According to the article, the goal here was to demonstrate the possibility of making an attractive, modern-looking Web page while still having it be lightweight. Your example does not achieve the first goal at all.

this is typical motherfuckingwebsite.com vs bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com.

The design team of solar.lowtechmagazine.com is squarely on the side of the bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com