Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#1

Post by ohitsdom » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 6:46 PM UTC

I'm working on a side project that sends out daily/weekly email reports. I'm working in C# and using Mailgun[0] to send email, but I'm unsure of how to approach designing HTML email templates.

My concerns:

- Inconsistency across email clients.

- Is there a tool to inline CSS styles (since stylesheets are not allowed in gmail)?

- Displaying bar graphs. I thinkg my options are either doing this with tables/divs or to generate an image of the graph to avoid inconsistent formatting.

- The email reports will also be web pages. How do I avoid UI duplication?

I'd appreciate any suggestions and/or shared experience!

[0] https://mailgun.com

Re: Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#2

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 6:49 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#3

Post by jeffmould » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 6:58 PM UTC

To inline CSS you can use the free tool from MailChimp:

http://templates.mailchimp.com/resources/inline-css/

As for templates MailChimp also offers hundreds of them through their GitHub:

https://github.com/mailchimp/Email-Blueprints

Re: Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#4

Post by ohitsdom » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:02 PM UTC

jeffmould wrote: post #3

To inline CSS you can use the free tool from MailChimp: http://templates.mailchimp.com/resources/inline-css/ As for templates MailChimp also offers hundreds of them through their GitHub: https://github.com/mailchimp/Email-Blueprints

Nice, I'll give the mailchimp tool a shot. I really just need to setup a handful of templates, so it being a manual tool isn't a problem at all.

I found an old broken link to free mailchimp templates, didn't think to check their Github! Appreciate it.

Re: Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#5

Post by codegeek » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:16 PM UTC

Mailgun actually provided some free templates on their blog once. See this

http://blog.mailgun.com/transactional-html-email-templates/

Re: Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#6

Post by jeffmould » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:18 PM UTC

ohitsdom wrote: post #4

jeffmould wrote: post #3

To inline CSS you can use the free tool from MailChimp: http://templates.mailchimp.com/resources/inline-css/ As for templates MailChimp also offers hundreds of them through their GitHub: https://github.com/mailchimp/Email-Blueprints

Nice, I'll give the mailchimp tool a shot. I really just need to setup a handful of templates, so it being a manual tool isn't a problem at all. I found an old broken link to free mailchimp templates, didn't think to check their Github! Appreciate it.

No problem. The inline tool has saved me countless hours though and is simple to use. Their templates are great for building blocks or also ready to go as they are.

Re: Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#7

Post by ohitsdom » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:27 PM UTC

codegeek wrote: post #5

Mailgun actually provided some free templates on their blog once. See this http://blog.mailgun.com/transactional-html-email-templates/

Whoa, a ton of resources in that post. Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#8

Post by peterbe » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 8:03 PM UTC

The most mature and powerful Python tool for inlining CSS is https://github.com/peterbe/premailer

I started it but it's been actively maintained by over 30 coders over several active years.

Re: Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#9

Post by rsync » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 8:25 PM UTC

Email should not contain HTML. Not all mailtools are web browsers.

Re: Ask HN: What tools do you use to build HTML emails?

#10

Post by nailer » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 8:30 PM UTC

rsync wrote: post #9

Email should not contain HTML. Not all mailtools are web browsers.

Not all web browsers support CSS, but that doesn't mean that web pages shouldn't contain CSS.