I used custom elements extensively in 2014 when support was not as widespread. I think it's a beautiful, elegant solution and I'm still a little bit bitter that React became as big as it was. Now everything "has" to be a SPA because developers want to use React, whereas most users would actually be better served with good 'ol HTML with some custom elements where needed.

I would rather use semantic elements for the examples like the one in the article and use web components/custom elements where appropriate.

Web Components are underrated for sure. I had a need for a custom element[0] and it was not difficult to implement.

[0]: https://github.com/zikani03/hypalink