Thanks for critiquing the site, I was looking for that. That is an early version of the site from March or April, as you assumed. I've edited some things already. I'm trying to go for something bold, simple, and "pretty", but nothing excessive. I would try editing the menu bar with images, but I'm not exactly an artist, though I do know my way around Photoshop's many effects. That could look tacky in some cases, anyway. The only artwork on the site that I think is polished enough are the two top images on the sidebar. I do have some nice ideas I'll try to implement.
A massive amount of bandwidth isn't why the site wilk cost me so much per month, it's the premium web host I am going to use to host the main site that is costing $18/month (though the forums will be on a cheap web host). I'm comfortable with the web host because the support team is excellent, the sites are never down for more than a minute every few months, and editing and moderation are iDevice-friendly. With a better, more intuitive host and interface, I believe I'll be able to accomplish more, so it's worth the premium for one of the highest quality services rather than a host that is clunky to manage.
I think I may start the site and manage it from a week or two from now until Dexter's fifth season finale, then I'll decide if the site is worth paying for and managing during Dexter's hiatus and sixth season. (which is imminent considering that season five is not labelled as the final season and that the producers said that there would be additional seasons) I'm also planning international versions of the site for other English-speaking countries so they get the same articles and content after each Dexter episode airs in that country if the site does well in the U.S.
Edit: I also wanted to note that the image of the site posted was just going to be the site's temporary look and the site was going to be heavily revamped over the summer until I scrapped the project due to cost. I'll have to hurry up and have the site up very quickly, but that'll be difficult knowing the try-everything-until-you're-back-at-the-second-choice me. I guess it might be better cost-wise starting now because I'll pull in bigger numbers of new people each day during the next four months, though having the site reporting on news for the last four months would have helped gradually develop an even bigger audience by December than I'll have.
I guess my motivation behind myself wanting to create a Dexter fan site: Current Dexter fan sites don't do nearly enough reporting. They're not for the diehard fans who can't get enough of the show and want to hear about the upcoming board game, iPad game, the alternate reality game going on, what the actors are up to, season five casting news and other info, etc. I'll also write articles looking into Dexter's world, the characters, etc. I think there are a lot of diehards who want to hear everything, so hopefully I'll cater to that audience in a way no other Dexter fan site does, since other Dexter fan sites only report basic information that many already know. Currently, there isn't a Dexter fan-site that I would visit, none of them are reporting anywhere close to the amount of news that a search on Google News will reveal. If there was, I would already be frequenting it.
Edit x2: I was playing around with the logo, and decided that DexterSlice might be a good name to replace DexterNet since the .com domain for DexterNet is taken. I had just missed the DexterSlice .com domain by a few weeks since Showtime took it to promote the Blu-Ray and DVD release of Dexter's fourth season. DexterFanNet sounds too long and DexterSpatter may be a little too difficult for someone to remember...
A massive amount of bandwidth isn't why the site wilk cost me so much per month, it's the premium web host I am going to use to host the main site that is costing $18/month (though the forums will be on a cheap web host). I'm comfortable with the web host because the support team is excellent, the sites are never down for more than a minute every few months, and editing and moderation are iDevice-friendly. With a better, more intuitive host and interface, I believe I'll be able to accomplish more, so it's worth the premium for one of the highest quality services rather than a host that is clunky to manage.
I think I may start the site and manage it from a week or two from now until Dexter's fifth season finale, then I'll decide if the site is worth paying for and managing during Dexter's hiatus and sixth season. (which is imminent considering that season five is not labelled as the final season and that the producers said that there would be additional seasons) I'm also planning international versions of the site for other English-speaking countries so they get the same articles and content after each Dexter episode airs in that country if the site does well in the U.S.
Edit: I also wanted to note that the image of the site posted was just going to be the site's temporary look and the site was going to be heavily revamped over the summer until I scrapped the project due to cost. I'll have to hurry up and have the site up very quickly, but that'll be difficult knowing the try-everything-until-you're-back-at-the-second-choice me. I guess it might be better cost-wise starting now because I'll pull in bigger numbers of new people each day during the next four months, though having the site reporting on news for the last four months would have helped gradually develop an even bigger audience by December than I'll have.
I guess my motivation behind myself wanting to create a Dexter fan site: Current Dexter fan sites don't do nearly enough reporting. They're not for the diehard fans who can't get enough of the show and want to hear about the upcoming board game, iPad game, the alternate reality game going on, what the actors are up to, season five casting news and other info, etc. I'll also write articles looking into Dexter's world, the characters, etc. I think there are a lot of diehards who want to hear everything, so hopefully I'll cater to that audience in a way no other Dexter fan site does, since other Dexter fan sites only report basic information that many already know. Currently, there isn't a Dexter fan-site that I would visit, none of them are reporting anywhere close to the amount of news that a search on Google News will reveal. If there was, I would already be frequenting it.
Edit x2: I was playing around with the logo, and decided that DexterSlice might be a good name to replace DexterNet since the .com domain for DexterNet is taken. I had just missed the DexterSlice .com domain by a few weeks since Showtime took it to promote the Blu-Ray and DVD release of Dexter's fourth season. DexterFanNet sounds too long and DexterSpatter may be a little too difficult for someone to remember...
). They don't let you use PHP and their forum module is very lacking. Maybe FatCow will be a good host if I can try to replicate what I've accomplished over tens of hours at Squarespace (it doesn't look like it took that long, I know). Squarespace isn't available as third-party software, unfortunately, the service is only accessible if you host a site with 
