CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

I hope that this link will give you some incite:
http://www.booki.cc/civicrm-3/_v/1.0/configuring-mailings/


I've copied and pasted some of the tips from there:

Tips for creating templates

HTML email is not regular HTML. There are significant restrictions, including the need use use tables and inline css and no background images. There are a lot of resources available online that can facilitate your experience with HTML email, including free templates that you can copy and work from.

Table border - The HTML element table has a border attribute available to it. Since the default value is "0" it is sometimes not used. Adding it (or editing it if it is available) and setting it to "1" will allow you to see the borders of your table and helps identify potential places to fix problems. Please note that HTML email templates usually have multiple tables and nested tables (tables inside tables). Make changes one at a time and switch to the HTML view to see the results. e.g. <table border="1"> A table will typically have more than one parameter, so make sure that there is a space between parameters.

Table cellpadding and cellspacing - these table parameters are very useful when trying to improve the readability of your email. Play with these settings in different tables and see what works for you.

Width - You do not want to send an email that is wider than 600 pixels, to ensure maximum compatibility across email clients. Make sure your outermost table does not exceed 600 pixels. Do the same for any other tables inside your main table. Also make sure that the total width of any image does not exceed 600 pixels. Images have a width parameter, but they can also have a a horizontal padding parameter, that if set can increase the width of the image.

Images - these need to be online and accessible in order for you to use them. First edit your image so that its width and height is appropriate for your email template. Next save it so that its file size is as small as possible. If you do not have image editing software, or do not know how to use it, there are free online resources that can help you resize your image.

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There was another really good post somewhere about formating email for CiviCRM but I have yet to find it. I'll post it here if I do.

If you'd like you can zip up the HTML letter that you are trying to send and email it to me by clicking here http://3.ly/email2forTim

I'll try to send it through my CiviCRM mail system and see if I'm getting the same formatting problems.