One of my freelance developers asked a question that I have never considered. I've always made the home page "default.htm" others use "index.htm" is there a difference? Should one be used over the other? Do search engines use them differently?

Gordon LaGrow
SiteDirections

It make no difference, as long as the server is configured to post one of these as the default page when entering a directory. main.htm is another one you'll see from time to time.

I'd say index.htm. I've never really encountered anyone using default.htm before.

Index.htm is the default one it looks for.

I've seend default.htm(l) before (usually on Windows hosting). But it doesn't matter. At all! It can be bole.great , or any.thing .
It depends only on the server setup, or .htaccess file (if you are on Apache hosting).

I would say what ever you think fits your site more. Most people use index.htm/.html/.php on the home page more often then anything else.

You could use index.myself if your really wanted.
index.html,htm,php ... etc are the most common, if you want your site to have user friendly directories use these.

I think is the same thing, most people use index.html

I've always used index.html. It seems to work everywhere.

I always use index.whatever

I'm another one of the "always used index" people ;)

Stick with standards. Its less maintainence in the long run.