CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is integral to email design, determining the visual presentation of your email. However, CSS support varies significantly across different email clients and devices, which can lead to inconsistencies in how your email is rendered.
Most email clients support basic CSS properties like fonts, colors, and backgrounds. However, more advanced properties such as animations, gradients, and certain flexbox or grid layouts may not be supported universally.
Email clients like Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail have different levels of support for CSS. For instance, Gmail strips out style tags from the head, requiring CSS to be inline for consistent rendering. Outlook, on the other hand, uses Microsoft Word's rendering engine, which has limited CSS support.
To ensure your emails look good across different clients, use inline CSS for critical styles. Avoid using advanced CSS features that have poor support and always test your emails using tools like Litmus or Email on Acid to see how they render across various clients.
Testing is crucial. Utilize email testing services to preview how your emails look in different email clients. These tools often provide screenshots from multiple clients, helping you identify and fix rendering issues before sending your campaign.
Common issues include broken layouts, missing fonts, and incorrect rendering of media queries. Inline CSS can sometimes conflict with client-specific styles, so it’s important to use reset styles to standardize the appearance across different platforms.
While external CSS can keep your code clean, it’s generally not recommended due to poor support. Many email clients strip out external stylesheets, making inline CSS the safer choice for consistent rendering.
Conclusion
Understanding CSS support in email marketing is essential for creating visually appealing and consistent emails. By adhering to best practices and thoroughly testing your emails, you can overcome the challenges posed by varied CSS support across email clients.