HTML email: tables or divs?

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+2 Q:

HTML email: tables or divs?

Does the HTML/CSS for an html email newsletter need to be in table format, or can I use DIVs with equal assurance it will display well cross email-client? I've downloaded a number of templates to see how they're done, upon which to base my own, and they all seem to use tables.

Any insight much appreciated, thanks!

+2 A:

Many email-clients aren't able to render css. I would use tables to format your mail and use images for anything else.

FB55 2010-05-29 14:44:21

You can't use images in emails by default; mail clients will block them until the user marks the sender as safe. Nearly all common clients do support limited inline CSS.

Rex M 2010-05-29 14:46:48

Older clients doesn't, and many business-users still use them. And no, not every client doesn't shows images. It's just a step for additional security, but clients as the iPhone have no reason for blocking images.

FB55 2010-05-29 14:50:49

you can use any html you like.

zed_0xff 2010-05-29 14:44:42

+4 A:

When it comes to email HTML, note that all best practices from web development goes out the window. To make the look consistent, you should:

Use table based layouts
Use the old-school attribute styling for tables
Use ONLY inline-styles, and only very simple such. <style>-tags are discarded by many clients.
Skip using <html>, <head> and <body> - They will be discarded by most clients anyway.
If you embed images, try to make sure that the e-mail looks decent even if images are not loaded. Many clients require the user to mark the email as "safe" before displaying images.

You can read more detailed versions of the above points here:

PatrikAkerstrand 2010-05-29 14:52:28

This is so true. Outlook 2007 is one of the worst of them all (and most are pretty bad...).

Max 2010-05-29 15:06:05

This is incredibly comprehensive:

http://resources.mailchimp.com/email-marketing-field-guide

j-man86 2010-09-06 18:26:19

ansaurus

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HTML email: tables or divs?

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