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1. Re: Web Standards for email Newsletters
Web Magi Oct 23, 2012 7:52 PM (in response to ottz0)I run newsletters weekly for clients. The email programs/providers of their target audiences vary. MS Outlook 2007 & 2010 and Gmail are widely used. CSS at all is a risk, much less CSS3. Forget DIVs too. Build with tables and inline styles. I'm still seeing font tags in some newsletters from industry leaders.
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2. Re: Web Standards for email Newsletters
ottz0 Oct 23, 2012 8:23 PM (in response to Web Magi)Hi thanks for that
I'm seeing rounded corners in alot of newsletters. Obviously this is done the old school way of images in tables rather that css?
Thanks
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3. Re: Web Standards for email Newsletters
Web Magi Oct 23, 2012 8:29 PM (in response to ottz0)Only one way to tell - save them as HTML documents and open them in Dreamweaver.
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4. Re: Web Standards for email Newsletters
Rik Ramsay Oct 23, 2012 9:47 PM (in response to ottz0)ottz0 wrote:
I need to code a few email newsletters to insert into my providers template system.
Do you still need inline styles, tables, html background images or can you start using css3 such as rounded corners etc?
The safest way to keep a consistent design across most, if not all email clients, is to use tables and inline styles as you mentioned. You can use CSS in the head but keep in mind most webmail clients will strip it so only use it for client specific overrides - like overriding the default link color iOS adds to addresses, dates and telephone numbers. You could also use CSS added in the <body> of the code, but you will see mixed results.
Having said all that, it can depend on your target audience as to how far you push the design. <div> and CSS3 can be used with Apple's iOS without much of an issue but you will not see consistent results across any others - especially webmail clients. The rounded corners you mention only work in iOS so yes, you would need to use the old school method of images if you wanted this look across everything.
A few helpful resources I keep bookmarked:
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/css/
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/3107/css3-support-in-email-clients/
http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2012/03/13/techniques-overcome-poor-css-support-email/
http://24ways.org/2009/rock-solid-html-emails
http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/common-html-email-coding-mistakes
Rik


