A younger relative of mine did a course through code.org a few years ago. I remember it being essentially Javascript but you could toggle to a code blocks view and could drag-and-drop some HTML elements so you wouldn't have to worry about the HTML side. Not sure if the actual courses are any good, but it might be similar to what you're looking for.
- Python has graphics, but it's a very steep climb from the simple drag-and-drop of Scratch
- Javascript has easy UI elements, but he'd have to learn HTML and other things
Scratch is so different from "straight" programming, I'm not sure if it's worth his time to learn JS and then translate his Scratch knowledge to it.