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.