cloud
Join Free
menu

Email browser compatibility

coding email marketing for different browsers

This guide will provide a quick reference to use when designing for email marketing. All of the major email browsers are listed, with versions, desktop and mobile variants.

All of the popular elements of email marketing design are included, with an indication of if they are fine to use, use with caution or cannot be used with each email reader.

Why email browser compatibility is important to consider?

Nowadays, we have access to a wide range of email browsers available for viewing our emails. As well of lots of different email browsers, we are all viewing emails on a variety of devices, from small mobile screens, through to 28" 4K resolutions. Up until relatively recently, we all viewied emails on desktop screens, that were invariably a standard size and we only used one email reader; typically Microsoft's Outlook.

Owing to the limitations of Outlook though, in recent years, lots of other email browsers have overtaken Outlook as the first choice for reading emails. We now have email readers available from Apple, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and a whole host of others.

What does this mean for email marketers?

Whilst it's great that we have a wide choice of which email readers to use, it means that when we are designing a mailer for email marketing, we need to take into consideration how our design will look on each one. An email that doesn't display properly will often result in a higher rate of unsuscribes and ultimately an increase in email bounces

Whilst there is quite a bit of uniformity with most of them, some email browers require careful consideration when designing your email marketing. Some of the design techniques that we take for granted when designing for webistes simply don't work with some email readers (mentioning no names Outlook).

To help make the design process a little easier, we have put together a handy guide to follow. The table gives you a quick email marketing design reference to follow, outlining which design techniques are compatible with which email readers.

Apple mail
Apple mobile iOS
Outlook Mobile
Outlook 2016 (mac)
Outlook 2016 (Win)
Outlook 2010
Outlook webmail
Gmail webmail
Yahoo webmail
Custom Fonts
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
Background Images
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
Rounded Corners
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Image Borders
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Background colours
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Background repeat
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Background position
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
CSS Media queries
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
cancel
check_circle
check_circle
CSS padding
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
<style> tag in <head>
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
check_circle
<style> tag in <Body>
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
check_circle
iFrame elements
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
Embedded video
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
JavaScript
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
H tags
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Line height
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Animated GIF images
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Countdown timers (GIF)
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
ALT tags
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Tables
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Apple mail
Outlook 2016 (mac)
Outlook 2016 (win)
Outlook 2010
Custom fonts
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Background images
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Rounded Corners
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Image boarders
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Background colours
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Background repeat
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Background position
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
CSS Media queries
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
CSS padding
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
style tag in head
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
style tag in body
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
iFrame elements
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
Embedded video
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
JavaScript
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
H tags
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Line height
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Animated GIF images
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Countdown timers (GIF)
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
ALT tags
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Tables
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Apple mail iOS
Outlook mobile
Gmail webmail
Yahoo webmail
Custom fonts
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Background images
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Rounded Corners
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Image boarders
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Background colours
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Background repeat
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
Background position
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
cancel
CSS Media queries
check_circle
cancel
check_circle
check_circle
CSS padding
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
style tag in head
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
check_circle
style tag in body
check_circle
check_circle
cancel
check_circle
iFrame elements
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
Embedded video
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
JavaScript
cancel
cancel
cancel
cancel
H tags
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Line height
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Animated GIF images
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Countdown timers (GIF)
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
ALT tags
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Tables
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
check_circle
Let's get started.
Join Free

Email Blaster
Unit 10A Burcote Wood Business Park
Wood Burcote
Northants
NN12 8TA
cphone_in_talk
01327 438077

Email Blaster is a trading name of JC Peters Ltd registered in England & Wales no. 07168254

UK based
servers