A Guide to CSS Support in Email
Since the rise of Internet Explorer, web designers have had to test their designs across multiple web browsers. No one likes it, but we've all copped it on the chin, written a few hacks and moved on with our lives. After all, 3 to 4 browsers aint that bad - and they finally seem to be getting their act together.
If Internet Explorer is the schoolyard bully making our web design lives a little harder, then Hotmail, Lotus Notes and Eudora are serial killers making our email design lives hell. Yes, it's really that bad.
Inspired by the fantastic work of Xavier Frenette, we decided to put each of the popular email environments to the test and finalize once and for all what CSS is and isn't supported out there.
Posted in: Tips & Resources
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199 Comments
Pozycjonowanie
November 14, 2007 4:50am
Thats great. Thanks for your work.
Josy
November 18, 2007 5:00am
Excellent informations! Thank you for your work and sharing your knowledge
kız oyunları
November 20, 2007 4:14am
If you are sending HTML emails in your marketing campaigns (and there’s lots to support that you should) you have probably come across some serious design issues when it comes to using CSS styling. I ran across a very comprehensive article over at Campaign Monitor that outlines what CSS elements, selectors and properties are and are not supported by the various email client environments such as Outlook and Yahoo.
this is good idea
Hip Hop Klamotten
November 22, 2007 7:22pm
However, have you ever tried testing iCalendar emails (ex. meeting request) with html body in Outlook. CSS support is minimal at best. The following are not supported for sure: background-color, border.
Jon
November 30, 2007 8:31pm
awesome post… exactly what i was looking for
Bwin
December 19, 2007 9:20am
I have already been using a CSS-based email solution and am just about to build a simple email MailBuild template for a new client and was wondering why there are 3 table-based templates in the Resources 3-pack whereas there exists a CSS-based template elsewhere on this site.
Dave Greiner
December 19, 2007 10:34am
Bwin, all of the templates we provide are actually table-based to a certain extent, as that’s the only way to achieve consistent rendering across the board. The newer templates have less reliance on tables for layout and make better use of CSS, but they still use tables for basic page structure.
sharp aquos
December 20, 2007 9:33am
Great work, i was go crazy to make a template compatible with all clients and webmails.
george
December 21, 2007 8:33pm
I have an HTML mail merge email going out with an invoice section i’d like printed on its own page.
SEIKO
December 25, 2007 9:37am
Good article , thank You
pozycjonowanie stron
December 26, 2007 7:39pm
Thanks a mil. That’s what I need!
Brandon Buttars
December 28, 2007 4:21am
This is awesome. Like some of the above comments you kind of guess sometimes what supports what because you just don’t have the time to test it all sometimes.
Sklepy
December 29, 2007 12:30am
Thanks for very interesting article. btw. I really enjoyed reading all of your posts. It’s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else’s point of view… makes you think more.
telefonsex
December 29, 2007 9:53pm
This is very helpful, and I find it an excellent resource. Thanks.
Download
January 10, 2008 12:32pm
Thanks for all, very good and helpful
strony www
January 11, 2008 10:36pm
Thats great. Thanks for your work.
katalogowanie rƒôczne
January 11, 2008 10:37pm
xcellent. This is confirmation that we are not insane. Great resource!
katalogowanie
January 11, 2008 10:38pm
I was using css in my mails without knowing this could be such a problem for all those different mail agents. I think I’m going to point this out in my class. Again it’s sad to see that the battle for consistency among utilities is going on…
offshore companies
January 15, 2008 12:33am
Very well made article. MAny thanks for chart with Eudora. It will save lot of time!
el dorado
January 15, 2008 5:51am
Good article.
Thanks for sharing.
Regards from Poland.
Blindog
January 15, 2008 12:56pm
Very nice, I was just creating a new email template and wondered what the support for CSS was in email clients? You more than answered my question. Kudos.
home decor
January 22, 2008 6:38am
I was using css in my mails without knowing this could be such a problem for all those different mail agents
eater
January 26, 2008 12:59am
It is good to know that there are lots of people doing lots of work for me
vitaly
January 26, 2008 1:44am
Very useful post. Thanks.
MisterMmmh
January 26, 2008 2:41am
Yes! You have answer on one of my question for creating HTML emails .. many thanks!
raffyman
February 5, 2008 11:18am
Does anyone have any experience with receiving html campaigns in Yahoo Mail “Beta”. I received a message from someone that had both html and plain text content but Yahoo Mail Beta displayed the plain text first (it actually displayed it twice; one below the other) and then displayed the html content. Pretty weird. Any feedback on your experience with the new Yahoo Mail? The style tag was part of the tag and Yahoo Mail Beta actually displayed the css code as part of the message.
übersetzungen
February 5, 2008 1:18pm
There are many useful informations in this great article…I really enjoy reading the whole blog that you write. Thanks!...
Blaise Kal
February 20, 2008 4:41am
Thanks very much! This saves me a lot of time.
Bijay Rungta
February 21, 2008 2:25am
Thanks for sharing this..
It saved me a lot of time trying to figure out why my efforts were going in vein..
Acronyms
April 3, 2008 7:47pm
Bloody email clients.
Paul Crain
May 1, 2008 1:15am
Thank you for posting this, bookmarked for reference.
vinç
May 11, 2008 6:16am
I was using css in my mails without knowing this could be such a problem for all those different mail agents
vana
May 11, 2008 6:18am
Thank you for posting this, bookmarked for reference.
JamesM
May 31, 2008 3:02am
Awesome list!!! im being introduced to email based advertising and this is an essential website!
Zach Katkin
June 17, 2008 1:12am
Great detailed article. Thank you for all of the hard work. We’ll definitely be putting this to good use.
Dan
July 27, 2008 10:35pm
One very good post! It’s good to see up-to-date information on such a technical subject. I’d certainly like an html coder who can produce an email template to cover this! Any takers?
I’d like to get some input on cutting-edge email forms.
Please”>http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/archives/2006/03/a_guide_to_css_support_in_emai.html”>Please Contact Me
Tao
August 1, 2008 7:54am
Now I know why my email does not display correctly under Lotus Notes. Thanks for the sharing the chart.
Jaideep
August 13, 2008 3:21am
Excellent information.
Thanks for sharing such a good info.
laura
August 17, 2008 4:40am
Wonderful and informative web site.I used information from that site its great.
xavier
August 17, 2008 4:49am
Thanks for the information. It is an useful article for me ;)
peter
September 3, 2008 2:28am
I hope that this isn’t a stupid question, is a element CSS? I’m a little fuzzy with what is CSS formatting and what is HTML.
peter
September 3, 2008 2:31am
Sorry, some words disappeared. I hope that this isn’t a stupid question, is a style element CSS? I’m a little fuzzy with what is CSS formatting and what is HTML.
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September 9, 2008 12:07am
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Jinn
September 18, 2008 8:01pm
Good one,
I am making newsletter features and multi-mail clients are killing me.
>.Good one,
I am making newsletter features and multi-mail clients are killing me.
>.<
Pozycjonowanie stron
September 20, 2008 4:21am
I’will not use a css in my mail. This is non sens !!
Thomas
September 24, 2008 2:47am
Great list, although including Outlook 2007 would be very helpful. I’m not sure if it was out though when the list was made…Outlook 2007 CSS support is awful, mainly it’s lack of support for position and float attributes. Check out this article for details.
Porkster
October 12, 2008 8:28pm
Thanks for the chart! It’s very, very helpful, especially since I’ve just been figuring out what CSS tags to use simply by trial and error, creating various HTML code bits to send to multiple email clients, and the best part is that the HTML mailer program takes ten minutes to send something. LOL, fun times indeed. Sarcasm aside, I’m looking forward to the update when you include Outlook 2007.
RedBalloon
October 16, 2008 4:49pm
Thanks a lot for the list. I’m glad to see most of the css inline style will work. Does anyone know of a free HTML sender? I need to do some testing on all of my email accounts.