Recently on Twitter someone was asking about displaying blog posts from a subweb on the parent. This is pretty easy to do with SharePoint Designer (SPD) and its unsung hero, the Data View Web Part (DVWP). Here is a quick set of directions to get someone started. Once the DVWP is created any number of great customizations can be made. I'll leave that up for someone smarter than me. I'm not that good with DVWPs or SPD.
The first step is to create a new web part page in the parent site. The easiest way is through the Web UI. Log in as someone that can add content. Click Site Actions > Create:
You want to create a new Web Part Page.
Give the page a name and choose a template. For this I'll choose Left Column. You also need to choose where to create this page. I'll choose the Shared Documents Document Library:
After the page has been created, open up the root site in SPD. If you don't already have it, download the free trial. If you're doing any kind of SharePoint work, you need SPD. After SPD is open, open your root site's Shared Documents library and open the blogs.aspx page. A web part page should open up for you. Click the web part zone where you want the DVWP to go to give it focus. In my example I'll be placing the web part in the Body Web Part Zone.
Now go to the menu bar and select Data View > Insert Data View…
On the right hand pane the Data Source Library will be opened up. By default this will show all of the data sources in the current web at the DVWP can consume. Since the data we want is in a different web, we need to add it to the library. To do that click Connect to another library on the bottom:
When the Manage Library dialog box comes up, click Add. Give the library a name that makes sense to you. In my case I named it Blog. Under location type the path to the subweb that has your content. If you have opened this web in SPD previously you can also use the Browse button to find it.
Click OK a couple of times to get back to the Data Source Library. Now at the bottom of the list is an entry for the library we just added. Click the plus sign to expand the library. Blog posts are in a list called "Posts" so expand SharePoint Lists and click Posts. You should see a screen like this:
When you click Show Data your screen will change and you'll see the content of that list. To create the DVWP, drag the "Row [1/x]" line over to the Web Part Zone where x is the number of posts in your Posts list.
SPD will churn a little as it creates the DVWP. Once it's created it should look something like this:
Right now it's not very useful. The HTML isn't rendered correctly because of security concerns. Fortunately it's easily fixed. Click the first body entry to give it focus. Then click the > on the right side. Change the "Format as:" setting to Rich Text:
You'll get a prompt warning of the security concerns. Click Yes to clear it. Now all your blog posts will be rendered correctly.
That's where I'll stop for now. You'll probably want to alter how the posts are displayed. The web part as nearly infinite customization options like paging, sorting, grouping, the list goes on. To access them click the > for the web part and see the options there. Once you've done that you can also edit the HyperLink for the Title column to link users directly to the blog post. If there's enough interest I may do a blog post on that.
Have fun,
tk