Struts is merely a framework - a way of linking multiple pages and their back-end code together for rapid development.

Depending on the size of the project; Struts may not be the best solution.

However, if you have multiple groups responsible for developing sets of pages, it provides a fair coherent method of allowing these groups to interface with one another.

(But you're right, your developers have to know HTML. Frankly, I'd recommend a graphic artist to develop the "look" of the pages, then have your developers add in the java hooks (by converting static HTML to dynamic JSP pages).