Front page different from inside pages

I did not actually get two different quotes, Megan, just one. It's just that it included both "designs," so I was curious how normal that was.

How much do you usually quote for home pages, and on subpages? (just an off topic question but quite related)...

The graphics on buttons as well as color scheme usually stays the same on all pages but then the subpages could be laid out differently. Usually some clients want different things to be displayed on their pages, so you should adjust layouts for these...

Layout can be different to design though, in as much as you can have the same basic design (headers, navigation, colours) but the content can be laid out differently, say front page has 3 columns and inner pages just one or two depending on content. This would be fine IMO but to have a different DESIGN would be wrong IMO. Does the quote mean that they propose a 'splash' page for the front page?

Actually, if you look at any big site you'll see several different page layouts. Go to Amazon or any site like that and click around. Home page layout, different from store index page layouts, different from product page layouts etc. It's a common thing to do. The main header area is the same but the design of the body area can vary quite significantly.

Is the price quote a lot different? It's really basically the same thing, and it doesn't look to me like a whole lot of planning went into what's on the front page vs. what's on the other pages. The basic template is the same, just the arrangement of content that's different.

I'll give you an example. http://www.edcofc.org/ That same person did the design (though not the HTML implementation) of this site. The front page is obviously, though not drastically, different from the interior pages.

I'll admit to being somewhat embarrassed. The drop down menus are obviously not cross-browser compatible, and I did them. It's now outside of my control, or I would update them to work in more that just IE. They're "operational" in Firefox, but they don't line up right and have transparency.

I think it depends on the project really. The needs of the home page can be a lot different from interior pages. Of course the look and feel and basic elements would be the same. Actually, you could argue that a whole lot more work goes into the home page regardless of how different the actual design is. The first message you send out to visitors is vitally important and a lot of thinking needs to go into what goes on that page and how it is presented. So it would make sense to have a separate price quote for that.

Depends what you mean by a "separate" design - completely separate or some level of variation?

Remember taff who used to mod here? He used to do this all the time - front page as more of an introduction with a graphic and navigation then more of a content-centric layout for the interior pages. I thought it was very successful from a design perspective but maybe not so much for SEO (the way he did it, I mean).

I always use the same design for all pages in the website. If I were to visit a website and the interior pages were different (depending on the extremity) I might think I had been sent to a different site completely.

I think the unity is comforting and much more professional-looking.