the workaround for Blogger Beta's bug

Last night while I was drumming away at band practice, I thought, "Hey, Beta lets you add an RSS feed to your blog. That means you can add your own feed on the sidebar, so your new posts will appear there." Congratulating myself on my cleverness, I implemented the change as soon as I could. It worked. Below is what I posted to Blogger's discussion group. Let me know if it helps.

I have a workaround. It's clumsy and unattractive, but at least it lets users see your most recent posts on the main page, until this bug is fixed.

Beta lets you add RSS feeds and text boxes from the layout screen. Using your blog's own RSS feed (which updates every ten minutes or so), your blog can exist on life support.

Here's what you do:

First, click "add a page element," then choose "feed" and click "add to blog." Title your feed "recent posts" and use this for the URL: http://---yourblogname--.blogspot.com/atom.xml. Be sure to save your changes. Then, back on the layout screen, move it to the top of your sidebar.

Then, add another page element. Choose "text," and use it to add an explanation that Beta is screwy, but your posts can still be read using the links on the sidebar. Once you've saved it, place it immediately below the Feed on the layout page. Save your changes, and presto: a way for visitors to know you're still alive.

Update: It seems to be fixed. For now.