Why “No More Tables”?

Hey, friend! Welcome to the inaugural edition of "No More Tables," your go-to newsletter for effective and modern email coding. In this first issue, we're going to talk about why this newsletter is called “No More Tables” and how we can build emails that are fresh, responsive, and look fabulous no matter where they land.

Flashback to '99

Ever heard Prince's classic line, "Party like it's 1999"? It's a joyful, carefree vibe, right? When I first started talking about email coding as "coding like it's 1999," I had the same enthusiasm. But the deeper I got into email, the more I realized, we've got some stuff to sort out. By the way, Prince’s song was also not all fun and games. It was quite dystopian. Either way, I still love both Prince and email.

The Problem?

Tables have not been used to structure web pages in decades. So, what's holding email coding back?

The answer is a two-parter:

1. Email clients

2. Email Developers 🫣 (don’t fight me)

Email clients don’t support the full gamut of HTML elements. Our bestie, Outlook desktop, renders emails in Microsoft Word.

In their defense, they are making progress. Outlook.com is rendered using web rendering engines and so are the Outlook mobile apps.

And if you haven’t heard yet… The New Outlook for Windows desktop app now uses a web rendering engine.

All we have to do now is patiently wait for full adoption – which I’m sure will come once the old Outlook desktop app is no longer supported (since we’ll have no other choice).

Email Developers have been dragging our feet here.

Per caniemail.com, the HTML <div> element, the preferred container for replacing tables, has been supported by all email clients since 2020.</div>

Should we let a few email clients hold the entire email coding industry back?

I vote No. How about you?

Admittedly, I have work to do myself here. I’m half-steppin’ too. I’m currently working on a table-less email design system. I’ll be sure to share it with y’all when it’s complete.

The Plan: Table-free Territory

Join me on this mission to ditch tables from email coding. Without tables, we can build slicker, responsive emails that look top-tier on any email client. This switch-up has a bunch of perks, like faster loading times, better accessibility, and a smoother coding process. It's about time we freshen up email design to be both effective and efficient.

Wrapping Up

"No More Tables" isn't just a catchy slogan; it's a step towards more efficient, up-to-date email coding. It's time for us to leave the old table approach in the rearview mirror and head toward a more contemporary method. I hope you'll join me in this shift, and together, we can make emails better for everyone. Keep an eye out for more tips, tricks, and insights on modern email coding in the next editions of "No More Tables."

Interesting Job Postings

SFMC Email Developer, Alchemy Worx, Remote $80k - $95k/yr

HTML Email Developer, CyberCoders, Remote, $70k - $90k/yr

Seller Email & Push Marketing Manager, Etsy, Remote, $91k - $119k/yr

Email Marketing Lead, Stripe, Remote, $135k - $182.6k/yr

Interesting Email Content Around the InterWebs

Litmus July 2023 Email Marketing Recap

Gmail background-image debacle

B2B SaaS ain’t the same as B2C

💐

Shoutout to Mark Robbins for contributing so much to the email community. Including “getting off the table” more than a half-decade ago.

Shoutout to Dela Quist for giving us no-nonsense email gems on a regular basis.

Shoutout to Litmus for being Litmus. Litmus Live 2023 is next month already in Boston, Massachusetts and online! (Use code ComeSeeMeSpeak10 for 10% off!)

Shoutout to Nely and Andrew Bonar for bringing us hit event after hit event. MarTechFest is also happening next month in Utrecht, Netherlands and online!