html email design

shorefire

Junior Member
Can anyone give me a steer on the easiest way to put together a html email design? Its for a magazine who want to send an email out to their lapsed subscribers looking flashy with images etc.

I am primarily a print designer who has only done a small amount of web stuff (only know the basics).

If this is not something for the html novice let me know and I will tell them I can't do it!

Thanks
 
Well if you can use Dreamweaver you're fine.. as its going to be easier to do things visually instead of through the code for email htmls.. but you can't use any CSS or anything like that.
 
it's pretty simple, just like a web page but with lots of info without the navigation. There should be links and may be a button.
 
simple code and layout of my email broadcast. cant upload the html file though!
 

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for html emails I design in photoshop, then slice and export as html and images, then you've got html of your design using tables (which is what you want for email)

make sure any "real" text you use is one big slice over a solid colour background so you can delete this slice in the html and insert your text. (background images are NOT widely supported)

all css needs to be inline (ie not in a separate stylesheet or in the head of the page) but it on the actual elements so like <p style="font-family:arial; font-size:1.2em">your text here</p>

all image references in the html must be absolute also so not <img src=".../images/slice1.png" - needs to be <img src="http://yourwebsite.com/email/images/slice1.png" - otherwise no images will show.
 
tbwcf said:
for html emails I design in photoshop, then slice and export as html and images, then you've got html of your design using tables (which is what you want for email)

make sure any "real" text you use is one big slice over a solid colour background so you can delete this slice in the html and insert your text. (background images are NOT widely supported)

all css needs to be inline (ie not in a separate stylesheet or in the head of the page) but it on the actual elements so like <p style="font-family:arial; font-size:1.2em">your text here</p>

all image references in the html must be absolute also so not <img src=".../images/slice1.png" - needs to be <img src="http://yourwebsite.com/email/images/slice1.png" - otherwise no images will show.

thats the best way to do it though.........................
 
Thanks for all your replies, unfortuntely they need it pretty damn quick and I haven't got time to do it. Some useful info from everyone though.

Sounds fairly straight forward anyway and I shall have a bash at it for portfolio purposes when I have the time. Another string to the bow and all that...
 
Thanks Geoff, I was racking my brain trying to remember what the other one I had seen was called, all I could think of was Gorilla Mail lol :D

Heard very positive things about both Campaign Monitor & Mail Chimp, anyone here used them personally?

Thanks,
Greg
 
Yeah i run several mail campaigns for as many companies, all through mail chimp. really cant fault them.
 
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