I’ve been doing web design for a few years now and I think I got a decent grasp on how to design with valid CSS. The past few weeks have been completely different since I’ve been designing for emails. It’s like taking a step backward in the evolution of web design when you design for emails due to the fact that many of the newer design techniques will not render correctly in emails.

I thought it was hard to design for two or three browsers, now I have to design for different desktop email software and web based email. This means I have to get HTML newsletters to render correctly in at least 5 different email programs. Not only is the design an issue, I have to make sure that our newsletters are Can-Spam compliant, because it’s the law. So there’s a lot think about when you are designing a HTML email.

Creating a newsletter has many issues that you must address before you start your campaign. This is what I’ve learned so far:

Can-Spam Compliance

• No false or misleading header information
• No deceptive subject lines
• You must include an opt-out method for you email recipients
• You must identify your email is an advertisement and include a valid physical postal address

Design

• Keep it simple, very simple with HTML table layouts and inline styling
• Make sure you have valid HTML
• No Javascript
• Test your email design in browsers first
• Test in web based emails Yahoo!, GMail, Hotmail, etc…
• Test in desktop email software Outlook, Thunderbird, etc…
• Offer an online version of your email

It’s been a new learning experience designing for emails and I look forward to designing them for the future email campaigns of Pure Adapt, especially for Tastefully Driven which has less than 2 weeks till launch. If you haven’t already signed up for Tastefully Driven, go sign up now for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate at www.TastefullyDriven.com.

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