Yes, I do that too. I do have scripts that do maintenance jobs, like changing the footer now and then. But they don't work with templates, they use the HTML input and just process it like any other data.
I don't really like the menu idea though. I prefer plain content with just a bit of links in the footer, like this: https://wordsandbuttons.online/programmers_introduction_to_l...
The way to frameworks or generators was caused because of the site look changing. Doesn't matter on which page you are, you have always a menu provided with lots of links. The "Back"-button is not seen today anymore. How I miss these days guys, this is why I love exploring neocities from time to time :).