Author Archives: Ryan Imel

Admin Bar Hover Intent WordPress plugin

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I’m one of the folks that doesn’t at all mind the WordPress Admin Bar, added to WordPress in version 3.1. Using it as much as I do, though, it bugs me just how sensitive the Admin Bar dropdowns are. I was in the process of fixing it for myself, when I figured it would make a nice simple plugin that others might benefit from as well.

This plugin slows down the dropdown so that it only opens up after a moment’s hesitation on the Admin Bar. It only effects logged in users, so shouldn’t add any overhead to your site.

You can download the Admin Bar Hover Intent plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory.

That’s pretty much it, since this plugin is pretty straightforward. Hope you find it useful!

Photos of my pets, Indie and Riley

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I realized that while these photos have lived on Facebook for some time, I’ve never uploaded them here to my own blog. That was silly of me.

The bulk of the photos are of Riley. He is a two year old bug, a breed of dog that is a mix between a Boston Terrier and a Pug. He’s cute.

There is also a picture of Indie in there too. She’s slightly older than Riley, and I actually adopted her first, so I couldn’t leave her out of this gallery.

All photos here were taken by the very talented Destany Maddox.

Sought refuge from the winter drive last night

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Ashley was kind enough to pick me up from the Indianapolis airport yesterday. I was in Phoenix Arizona over the weekend, attending WordCamp Phoenix (see my coverage at WPCandy also). It was a great event, but the story I’m telling here really comes into play on the trip back.

Originally I was supposed to arrive at 4:00pm Monday in Indianapolis. Instead, my connecting flight in Denver, Colorado was delayed by about one and a half hours to de-ice the plane. I wasn’t upset about it, since I enjoy the airplanes I’m in staying airborne. But while we originally thought I would be back in time to make the drive back up to Fort Wayne before the big storm hit, the delay put us kinda sorta right in the middle of it.

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Credit Where Credit is (not yet) Due

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When I have a new idea I fight the urge to talk about it until there is actually something to show for it. I do this because I get very frustrated when others do it. And by “it” I mean seek congratulations, press attention, and sometimes investment, before the actual thing is complete.

I only have this frustration with others because I see the same thing in myself. I despise credit before it’s due because I hate my own tendency toward it. In the past I’ve sought positive feedback (read: ego stroking) for work that was not much more than a good idea. I’ve had plenty of good ideas. But good ideas aren’t worth congratulations or accolade on their own. Good ideas are only worth a damn once they’ve come to fruition.

In my experience, this entrepreneurial jumping-of-the-gun happens in the form of landing pages, tweets, and in some cases full fledged video announcements.

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Competitions are Damaging to Startups

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New business competitions are incredibly tempting. I’ve participated in half a dozen or so in only a couple of years of entrepreneurship. I won once, came in second another time, and completely lost the rest of the times. In my experience the potential return (prize money) isn’t worth the lost productivity and wastes intra-startup networking possibilities.

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