Oct
25
More Things Your Email Designer Must Know
This is the second part in a two-part series on the dos and don’ts in email design. First you read Things Your Email Designer Must Know now we give you ten more things to tell your email designer. Don’t forget to share this with your design team.
- Avoid Background Images: Use background colors instead.
- Video in Template: Rich media is not supported by most email clients. So it’s best to add a screenshot of the video with the “Play” triangle and link it to the video.
- If You Slice up Images...: If you decide to slice images then include the style tag to have the various images appear correctly.
- Clearly Define Spaces for Tables: Declare width, cellpadding along with cellspacing for tables and table cells. This ensures a fixed width for the template, irrespective of which email client it’s viewed on.
- Wrap the Email in a 100% Width Table: This way email clients will only take the code within the body tags.
- Avoid Multiple Blank Spaces: The HTML standard does not support multiple blank spaces and treats them as a single space. Use the special character   to force multiple spaces and to specify a non-breaking space.
- Avoid JavaScript: JavaScript is an indicator of spam or a phishing email. Also avoid Flash.
- Avoid ASCII Characters: These characters can potentially end up as special characters in some email clients.
- Include a DOCTYPE Declaration: Use the transitional doctype.
- Test for Mobile Version Compatibility: With the rise in mobile email users, ensure that the template is compatible to view on the mobile screen or better still provide a link to the mobile version.
These twenty points will ensure that your email renders correctly in most ISPs and email clients.
