Use Tables for HTML Emails
By: Diana
Date: Nov 18, 2008
Category: design, marketing
In the "olden days", web pages were tables of data - think spreadsheets - with cool colors and images added in the cells. Web 2.0 is all about tableless designs using CSS to structure the layout. Tables are definitely out - except for HTML emails.
Web pros complain about browser compatibility, a misnomer considering that not all browsers display markup the same way. Mention Internet Explorer 6 and watch web geeks spasm. Still, browsers are synchronized swimmers compared to email clients, who are just getting into the "display HTML" game and do not play well with others. The best way to keep them under control is to put your markup into tables.
For a more in-depth and interesting to read tutorial, read Tim Slavin's tutorial on Sitepoint. You can also find 10 HTML Email Coding Tips and free templates on MailChimp.
What Makes you Special?
By: Diana
Date: Jul 25, 2008
Category: branding, marketing
Branding your website is just as important as branding a breakfast cereal. Users will develop a "feel" for your site and associate their experience with your "personality". As a business or individual, you are still a brand. There are so many websites vying for attention. Users are most likely to revisit sites that give them a reliable experience and a secure feeling.
Knowing that users will get a "feel", decide up front exactly what you want them to feel. What is your core value? What is the thing about you, your business, your service that makes you truly special? Rather than make the user figure out who you really are, know who you really are and design a web presence that conveys that message. Choose a logo, colors, text, and images all with this value in mind and thus . . . it becomes your brand. And it will show.
For example, one thing that makes me special as a web developer is my commitment not just to serving my clients but to educating them. I am deeply committed to educating myself. And so, The WebGeek Journal is designed to convey this value. Return users can trust that, if nothing else, they will always learn something here.