Server-side Node.js still exists and, if you like, can be quite similar to good old PHP. A "Hello World" app in Express.js is pretty barebones and easy to get started with, and there are probably lots of comparable alternatives. I've always found Express.js to have a big community with lots of guides and info, although I admittedly haven't had the experience of coming to it as a newcomer to programming or the web.
This is something I'll never understand: Isn't the only selling point of JS that it runs on every web browser? Why would anyone want to use it (or, in 2021, PHP) on the server side, where you can use any language you want?
Hah, I've been saying the same thing for years. It bothered me even more so because I was a Perl programmer and everyone kept saying how messy Perl code is. But they want JS on the backend?!
