In 2007 Microsoft decided to avoid using a browser to render HTML emails in place of a word processor. This immediately took standards-based email design off the table, forcing designers to abandon web standards for tables and font tags.
A senior member of the Outlook team confirmed they plan on continuing to use Word to render HTML emails for Outlook 2010. Really, guys? Really?!
This means for the next 5 years your email designs will need tables for layout, have no support for CSS like float and position, no background images and lots more.
Outlook 2010 is still in beta and Microsoft wants your feedback. It’s time to rally together and encourage Microsoft to embrace web standards before it’s too late.
Anyone who has ever created an HTML email template knows that Outlook is the absolute worst when it comes to web standards. If tweeting a short message to Microsoft will wake them up, we need to do this. I cannot take another 5 years of tables, no background images and inline styles!
