Email Standards Project
For a long time, I hated HTML email. I used to almost automatically delete every HTML email I would receive, and would quickly decry the use of bloated HTML for simple messages.
I’m still not a huge fan of HTML email, but in the past few months, I’ve been seeing a rise in well-designed, content-rich HTML emails in my inbox, and I’ve come to realize that there is a place and time for rich, HTML-based email. Matthew Patterson’s presentation at FOWD07 helped me realize some of the merits of the form, and the importance of standards for HTML email in order to facilitate good design in the email world.
That’s why I’m a huge supporter of the Email Standards Project. The project is the brainchild of Patterson himself, and aims to “help designers understand why web standards are so important for email, while working with email client developers to ensure that emails render consistently.” What I feel people need to realize is that the reason HTML email has been so loathed in the past wasn’t because of the form itself, but because of the way the form has been used. With an added emphasis on design and accessibility, rich-content email may become a valid tool in our marketing toolbox, rather than something to be shunned and shy away from.
Be sure to read the Why Email Standards page on the site. Oh, and I’m waiting for the “I support email standards” t-shirt. I’d wear that.