Baseline standards in HTML emails

Warning This article was written over six months ago, and may contain outdated information.

Part of being a web professional is having to explain to clients that what they see on their screen isn’t what all of their visitors will see on theirs; differences in OS, fonts, browsers, and monitors all mean that there will be slight variations in the way your pages display. When it comes to HTML emails, it’s harder still; the differing levels of CSS support across the many, many email clients – both online and off- make it hard to establish who can see what.

Campaign Monitor are a company who, as well as providing a fantastic email service, write probably the definitive blog on the subject. Recently they’ve begun a campaign to petition manufacturers to establish a baseline standard for CSS support:

This much is clear – arguing about HTML vs plain text or complaining about standards support in email isn’t going to get us anywhere. It’s time to get off our butts and actually help email client manufacturers to introduce better standards support.

They’ve produced their own list of declarations they think should be included, and are asking for feedback from anyone who has an opinion.

I have one of those.

First of all, HTML emails shouldn’t look like web pages; they should look like clear, easy to read letters. I know that when I get an email, I want to be able to see the contents of it immediately and get the gist within seconds. For me, the most important standards to agree are for typography; properly inherited font values, line-heights, etc. Similarly, link styling is vital.

One the same subject, I grudgingly feel that floats and clears are necessary; I wouldn’t want to see them used for layout purposes, but I understand that there are some occasions – placing images, pullout text, etc – where they are vital.

Background images I’m less keen on; images are blocked in emails for a reason and, unless I’m mistaken, those same reasons could be applied to background images. If most people aren’t going to see them, I’m not worried about losing them.

Something I think is crucial is not allowing interactive content; I swear, if I open an email one day and it starts playing video automatically, I’m going to give up on the whole thing.

In general I think it’s a fine suggestion for an HTML email standard, and I’m happy to support it.

1 comment on
“Baseline standards in HTML emails”

  1. Thanks for your thoughtful reply Peter, this is exactly the kind of discussion we were hoping for when we started the campaign.