Here are some tips for coding emails that are visually pleasing even without images turned on:
- JPG’s are best for larger graphics that consist primarily of images, such as a masthead photograph.
- GIF’s are perfect for smaller items which contain less colour complexity and/or text
- Avoid saving anything in a format other than JPG or GIF. Though you might be tempted to save an image as a PNG for the sake of maintaining opacity percentages – they work, but your file size will be huge.
- In either Photoshop or Image Ready, be sure to use the “save for web” feature.
- Tinker with it to see how low you can bring down the percentage before the image becomes distorted, the difference between saving a JPG at 80% quality in Photoshop as opposed to 40% is usually negligible.
- Add ‘alt’ tags with descriptive text to your messages – these can help convey what the user should see in their place.
- Add the ‘height’ and ‘width’ variables to all images. This creates a square place holder of the image and maintains the shape of your newsletter.
- Lastly don’t forget to ask your subscribers to “Add to address book” in each and every message you send to them. Try using a tool like this to generate the proper instructions for your users across multiple email clients.
Got any more rendering and coding tips? Share them with us by email at contact or leave a comment.
