/fluid-email

Mobile-first email framework build with scss.

Primary LanguageCSSMIT LicenseMIT

Fluid-email

Mobile-first email framework build with scss.
demo

changelog

Tips

  • Don't use standard tags like h1, h2,...,p.
  • Every element only can have a maximum of one class. But if you will bring css inline later, ignore this rule.
  • Don't use css shorthand like: font: 10px/18px Arial, sans-serif.
  • Give your images a short and simple name: like logo.png, not logo_email_2011_08.png.
  • Use attribute selectors in your media queries to avoid a glitch which appears in Yahoo! Mail. Please refer to this article.
  • Wider than 320px column width will break the layout in Android Gmail App.
  • Wider image than its container will break the layout in outlook 07/10/13 because of their non-support of max-width.

Process

  1. Write you css/sass
  2. Bring your css inline (recommend mailermailer inliner tool)
  3. Test your email at Litmus or campaignmonitor.com

Install

$ bower install fluid-email

Don't use SASS?

You can use css/main.css directly.

Usage

Basic structure
We use wrapperto constrain the main content on bigger screen, but since Lotus Notes 8 & Outlook don't support max-width, we need add a conditional wherever we use wrapper. You can change the wrapper width in _variable.scss.
<center> element is required to fix an layout issue on Gmail App (Android).

<body class="outlook" id="outlook">
  <table class="body" id="backgroundTable">
    <tr>
      <td>
        <center>

        <!--[if (gte mso 9)|(IE)]> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="width: 600px; margin: 0 auto;"> <tr> <td> <![endif]-->
        <table class="wrapper">
          <tr>
            <td>

              <!-- Your content goes here -->

            </td>
          </tr>
        </table>
        <!--[if (gte mso 9)|(IE)]> </td> </tr> </table> <![endif]-->

        </center>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</body>

Settings
The default grid is 12 columns, gallery is 6 columns.
You can directly change the settings in _variables.scss,

// *** 1 variables.scss *** //
// generate css
$generate-css: true !default;

// layout
$wrapper: 600px !default;
$content: 560px !default;
$cols: 12 !default;
$gutter: 16px !default;

$gallery-cols: 6 !default;
$gallery-align: left !default;

Or change it before you @import fluid-email

$wrapper: 640px;
$content: 560px;
@import "path/to/fluid-email";

Grid

<table class="row">
  <tr>
    <td class="col-4">
      <!-- your content goes here … -->
    </td>
    <td class="col-8">
      <!-- your content goes here … -->
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

Sub-grid

<table width="100%">
  <tr>
    <td class="main">
      <!-- your content goes here … -->
    </td>
    <td class="aside">
      <!-- your content goes here … -->
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
@mixin sub-col($key)
// pattern
$key: $column of $columns

// Usage
.main { @include sub-col(4 of 12); }
.aside { @include sub-col(8 of 12); }

Gallery

<table class="gallery-2">
  <tr>
    <td class="item">
      <!-- your content goes here … -->
    </td>
    <td class="item">
      <!-- your content goes here … -->
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
@mixin gallery($column $item-width-max)
// $columns: positive integer. Columns per row.
// $item-width-max: px | em | rem | …. `max-width` of each column. When the width of each column reaches this value, each row will split into many columns as defined in `$columns`.

.gallery-2 { @include gallery(2 300px); }

Button

<td>
  <a href=""><span class="button">button</span></a>
</td>
@mixin button($key)
// pattern
$key: $background-color $padding $radius

// Usage
.button { 
  @include button(#25d6ec '10px 15px' round); 
  // $radius: round; (radius | round)
}

type
type is a shorthand mixin for type.

@mixin type($key);
// pattern
$key: $font-size $font-weight $font-style $line-height $font-family $text-align $text-transform 

h1 { @include type(20px 'Georgia, Helvetica, sans-serif' center 1.4 bold italic) }
// font-size: 20px;
// font-weight: bold; 
// font-style: italic; 
// font-family: 'Georgia, Helvetica, sans-serif';
// text-align: center;
// line-height: 1.4;

// Tips: to set 'font-weight', 'font-style', 'text-align' or 'text-transform' value 
// to 'inherit' or 'normal', 
// you need add prefix 'weight-', 'style-' or 'transform-'.

// $ro-font-weights: thin, hairline, 'extra light', 'ultra light', lighter, light, normal, medium, 'semi bold', 'demi bold', bold, bolder, 'extra bold', black, heavy, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, weight-normal, weight-inherit !default;
// $ro-font-styles: italic, oblique, style-normal, style-inherit !default;
// $ro-text-aligns: left, right, center, justify, align-inherit !default;
// $ro-text-transforms: capitalize, uppercase, lowercase, none, full-width, transform-inherit !default;

Breakpoint

@include bp(min 480) {...}  // output: @media (min-width: 30em) {...}
@include bp(max 480 screen) {...}  // output: @media screen and (max-width: 30em) {...}
@include bp(480 640) {...}  // output: @media (min-width: 30em) and (max-width: 40em) {...}
.header { @include bp(min 480) {...} }  // output: @media (min-width: 30em) { .header {...}; }

Visibility

@include visible($key);
@include hidden($key);
// pattern
$key: $media $breakpoints

// Usage
.show-on-mobile { @include visible(screen 800);
.show-on-desktop { @include hidden(null 400 800);
// only works on the platforms that support CSS3 mediaquery

Compatibility

Desktop Clients
Apple Mail 7 ✓
Apple Mail 8 ✓
Lotus Notes 8.5 ✓
Outlook 2000 ✓
Outlook 2002 ✓
Outlook 2003 ✓
Outlook 2007 ✓
Outlook 2010 ✓
Outlook 2011 ✓
Outlook 2013 ✓
Outlook 2016 ✓
Thunderbird 31 ✓

Mobile Clients
Android 2.3 ✓
Android 4.2 ✓
Gmail App (Android) ✓
iPad (Retina) ✓
iPad Mini ✓
iPhone 5s (iOS 7) ✓
iPhone 5s (iOS 8) ✓
iPhone 6 ✓
iPhone 6 Plus ✓
Windows Phone 8 ✓

Web-based Clients
AOL Mail (Explorer) ✓
AOL Mail (Firefox) ✓
AOL Mail (Chrome) ✓
Gmail (Explorer) ✓
Gmail (Firefox) ✓
Gmail (Chrome) ✓
Outlook.com (Explorer) ✓
Outlook.com (Firefox) ✓
Outlook.com (Chrome) ✓
Yahoo! Mail (Explorer) ✓
Yahoo! Mail (Firefox) ✓
Yahoo! Mail (Chrome) ✓

Thanks and reference

http://jackosborne.com/articles/responsive-email-design/
http://blog.fogcreek.com/responsive-html-emails-a-different-strategy/
https://www.campaignmonitor.com/guides/mobile/
http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/tutorials/what-you-should-know-about-html-email--webdesign-12908
https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/4240/creating-a-centred-responsive-design-without-media-queries
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