| name | email-template-design |
| description | Design and build professional HTML email templates with inline CSS for broad email client compatibility. Use this skill when the user asks to create, design, or build email templates, newsletters, transactional emails (order confirmations, receipts, shipping notifications, password resets), marketing emails, welcome series, onboarding emails, abandoned cart emails, drip campaigns, or any HTML email layout. Covers responsive design, dark mode support, and compatibility with Gmail, Outlook (desktop + web), Apple Mail, Yahoo, and mobile clients. |
Email Template Design
Design production-ready HTML email templates using table-based layouts and inline CSS for maximum email client compatibility.
Workflow
- Clarify purpose - Determine the email type (marketing, transactional, lifecycle) and brand context
- Select base template - Start from an asset template in
assets/ or build from scratch using the patterns below
- Build structure - Use table-based layout with the boilerplate from
assets/base.html
- Style inline - Apply all CSS as inline styles; use
<style> block only as progressive enhancement
- Test compatibility - Review against the client quirks in
references/client-compatibility.md
- Optimize - Compress images, add alt text, verify dark mode, ensure accessibility
Email Type Selection
| Type | Key characteristics | Template asset |
|---|
| Marketing / Newsletter | Hero image, CTA buttons, multi-section content | assets/marketing.html |
| Transactional | Data-driven, minimal design, clear information hierarchy | assets/transactional.html |
| Lifecycle / Drip | Personal tone, single CTA, storytelling flow | assets/lifecycle.html |
Core Architecture
Every email template follows this skeleton:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
<meta name="x-apple-disable-message-reformatting">
<meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no,address=no,email=no,date=no,url=no">
<title>{{email_title}}</title>
<style>
table, td { mso-table-lspace:0pt; mso-table-rspace:0pt; }
img { -ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic; border:0; height:auto; line-height:100%; outline:none; text-decoration:none; }
body { margin:0; padding:0; width:100%!important; -webkit-text-size-adjust:100%; -ms-text-size-adjust:100%; }
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
.dark-bg { background-color: #1a1a2e !important; }
.dark-text { color: #e0e0e0 !important; }
}
@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {
.stack-column { display: block !important; width: 100% !important; max-width: 100% !important; }
.mobile-padding { padding-left: 16px !important; padding-right: 16px !important; }
.mobile-full-width { width: 100% !important; }
.mobile-hide { display: none !important; }
.mobile-center { text-align: center !important; }
}
</style>
</head>
<body style="margin:0; padding:0; background-color:#f4f4f4;">
<div style="display:none; max-height:0; overflow:hidden;">
{{preview_text}}͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌
</div>
<table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="background-color:#f4f4f4;">
<tr>
<td align="center" style="padding: 20px 0;">
<table role="presentation" width="600" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" class="mobile-full-width" style="background-color:#ffffff; border-radius:8px; overflow:hidden;">
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Essential Patterns
CTA Buttons (Outlook-safe)
<table role="presentation" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="margin:0 auto;">
<tr>
<td align="center" style="border-radius:6px; background-color:#2563eb;">
<a href="{{url}}" style="display:inline-block; padding:12px 32px; font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:16px; font-weight:bold; color:#ffffff; text-decoration:none; border-radius:6px; background-color:#2563eb;">Button Text</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
Two-Column Layout (responsive)
<table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
<td style="padding: 20px;">
<div class="stack-column" style="display:inline-block; width:280px; vertical-align:top;">
</div>
<div class="stack-column" style="display:inline-block; width:280px; vertical-align:top;">
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
Hero Image
<tr>
<td style="padding:0; line-height:0;">
<img src="{{hero_image_url}}" alt="{{hero_alt}}" width="600" style="display:block; width:100%; max-width:600px; height:auto;" class="mobile-full-width">
</td>
</tr>
Design Rules
- 600px max width for the content container
- All critical styles inline —
<style> blocks are for progressive enhancement only (resets, dark mode, responsive)
- Tables for layout — use
role="presentation" on every layout table
- System-safe font stacks —
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; or Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;. Web fonts via @import work in Apple Mail, iOS Mail, and some Android clients only
- Images: always set explicit
width, height:auto, display:block, border:0, and meaningful alt text
- Backgrounds: use inline
background-color; background images require VML fallback for Outlook — see references/client-compatibility.md
- Spacing: use
padding on <td> cells, never margin on tables
- Links: always use absolute URLs with
https://
- Preheader text: hidden preview text improves open rates; pad with
͏‌ to prevent email clients from pulling body content
Accessibility
- Use semantic
lang attribute on <html>
- Add
role="presentation" to all layout tables
- Provide descriptive
alt text for all images
- Maintain minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio for text
- Use at least 14px font size for body text
- Structure content in logical reading order (not reliant on visual layout)
- Include a plain-text version or web-view link
Dark Mode
Support three strategies (apply all):
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) in <style> — works in Apple Mail, Outlook.comcolor-scheme: light dark meta tag and CSS property — opts into native dark mode handling- Transparent images — use PNGs with transparency so logos adapt to dark backgrounds; provide light/dark logo variants when possible
For full dark mode quirks per client, see references/client-compatibility.md.
Pre-Send Checklist
