 there has been a lot of talk going on recently about html emails and i thought i would weigh in and give my two cents outlook the most popular email platform announced that they were switching their rendering engine the decided to switch to using the word engine excuse me but i think word is word processing software and in no way should it be used to render html i think we have all seen the output when you convert a microsoft document to a web page its scary so in the wake of microsoft taking a step backwards the real question is does it even matter in my opinion it shouldnt what do the experts say as zeldman states e mail was invented so people could quickly exchange text messages over fast or slow or really slow connections using simple non processor intensive applications on any computing platform or using phones or hand held devices or almost anything else that can display text and permits typing jeffrey zeldman e mail is not a platform for design emails seem similar to rss feeds we are getting the content without all the other crap we need to ask ourselves do we want to see rss feeds completely designed nope because then we might as well visit the site remember how we thought getting cross browser consistency was hard how about cross client html emails its a nightmare some support css some strip it all out some support inline css its awful my favorite quote from the article when he is discussing css support but only if you author in nonsemantic table layouts and bandwidth wasting inline css which is like using a broken refrigerator to store food at room temperature jeffrey zeldman e mail is not a platform for design in zeldmans follow up article eight points for better e mail relationships he steps back a little from his previous stance and he notes a few points about html email i think that after he cleared his head a little this article is very on point html email should be something that people specifically sign up for it should not be the selected option they should have to choose it simple is better zeldman posted an email that his friend received from nokia a few days later this is pure comedy roger johansson also had an opinion on the subject and its very similar to mine so what do we do i think we need to discuss the problems with full html emails with the marketing people who are pushing them is this really whats ideal is this going to receive the most positive feedback i think not i would be perfectly content receiving a simple mostly text email with limited branding a logo not to mention how much easier this would be to create now that i dont have a problem with 