Q:

What's the latest on HTML Email best practice?

I've been asked to build something that will generate HTML Emails.
The last time I created one of these was about three years ago, and so I was wondering if the warnings about using tables, nested tables, having to use inline stylesheets etc. still had to be heeded, or whether (hopefully) email clients had caught up a bit with browsers, and would allow use of external stylesheets, divs and so forth.
I did have a good Google for info, but most articles I found were a few years old, and so was wondering what the current state of play was.
Can anyone update me on the latest best practice?
Many thanks!

A:

We recently put together an HTML email. We learn't the following:

There is HUGE disparity in HTML and CSS support in modern and older clients alike. And mostly that support is pretty terrible.
Do not use external or header CSS. Inline EVERYTHING.
Use tables for layout. Nested tables I think are ok, we didn't see any problems with this.
Use a service like Email-on-Acid to check how your mail renders in different clients. 
Making something that looks nice and polished across the major clients is a gigantic pain and will take you 5 times longer than you imagine.
In short, nothing's changed in the last 3 years.

Good luck!

