Email Standards Project. How to Code HTML Email Newsletters. This article was first published in 2006, then re-edited in 2011 — and it’s still one of our most popular posts.
If you’re keen to learn more about styling HTML email campaigns, head to our recent post on creating email signatures. HTML email newsletters have come a long way since this article was first published back in 2006. HTML email is still a very successful communications medium for both publishers and readers. Publishers can track rates for email opens, forwards, and clickthroughs, and thereby can measure reader interest in products and topics; readers are presented with information that’s laid out like a web page, in a way that’s more visually appealing, and much easier to scan and navigate, than plain text email.
In some ways, coding HTML email has become easier — several email software providers, such as Google Mail, have improved their support for CSS. Despite these advances, coding HTML email can be a mix of misery and pain for programmers. How To Code HTML Email Newsletters. This article shows how to code HTML email so that it displays well in most email software, as well as mobile phones and tablets.
It provides an exhaustive overview of how to code html email newsletters (even in Outlook) with links to free html email templates, CSS compatibility tables, services that test your html email, and much more. This article strives to provide a comprehensive overview of all possible resources online compared to other articles on this topic which may be vendor-specific or focus on one aspect of how to code html email, for example, testing CSS styles across email software clients. Here are some quick links if you only need specific information from this article: Please note this article has moved to my online magazine about coding and computer science, Help Kids Code. The new article, How to Code HTML Email, is more hands on with code examples, marked up designs, and more up to date resource links. Changes to this article are noted at the bottom of this article. Guide to HTML Email. We hate to love it and we love to hate it, but HTML email is here to stay.
Come along for a down ‘n’ dirty tour of our HTML newsletter redesign process, and learn how we tackled the monster head-on! Part I – The Dark Heart of HTML Email Sometimes I feel sorry for poor ol’ Internet Explorer 6. It don’t get too much love. You only have to wander the more prominent web dev blogs and forums to realize that IE6 has been the web’s number one kicking boy for some time now – and with all those endearing little rendering bugs, perhaps deservedly so. However, if you ever harbored a secret desire to rebuild your tattered relationship with IE6 – to rekindle that flame – it’s easily done. Yes, my friends, you know not the meaning of rendering inconsistencies till you’ve delved into the dark heart of HTML mail client rendering. At this stage I’ve managed to piece together some rough rules of thumb to use when you’re asked to work on HTML email. Rule 1: Run. The Brief.
42 HTML email design resources. Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow Last updated February 9th, 2010 A summary of the best HTML email design resources, covering overviews, guidelines, standards, templates, checklists, design tools, galleries and more.
(Sharp-eyed observers will note that there are over 50 resources now listed. But 42 is a better number, so it stays in the title.) There are numerous such resources, of course, but these are among the most useful...do suggest others in the comments. Overview articles, collections, guidelines Rock Solid HTML Emails: how to design an email that looks good in all popular email clients. Design and Build Email Newsletters: design in the wider context of winning newsletters. Email anatomy: outlines the structural anatomy of a marketing email and gives you a nice framework around which to hang your design approach. Similar posts covering structure are The anatomy of an email and The perfect newsletter structure. Campaign Monitor: First port of call for HTML email resources. Checklists.