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    Email Builder FAQ

    Applies to: All ONTRAPORT accounts.

    Q: Why are my emails coming through as a different size than I specify in the Email Editor?

    Editing Font Size: Pixels vs Points

    So you want to get all fancy and change the font size on the email you’re sending?

     

    One thing to keep in mind is that when you specify the font size in the email editor, you’re choosing the size based on pixels, not points. Pixels and points are different units of measurement for text size. Think of the difference between inches and centimeters - you can have a value of 4, and 4 inches is going to be much longer than 4 centimeters. Right?

     

    Sometimes, when email clients (like Outlook) render messages, they will convert pixels to the closest point size. This means that in some email clients, the message text gets rendered in a different point value than the pixel value you specified.

     

    If this is a big deal for you, there’s a way that you can specify points rather than pixels. You’ll need some HTML skills - but nothing major.

     

    1. First, finalize your email text and specify a pixel size of your liking for the text by using the dropdown in the message editor.

    2. Next, click the source button to open up the HTML and CSS source for the message. You should see a string of text at the beginning of the source that reads something similar to: <span style="font-size:14px;">

    3. If you want to change the pixels to points, simply replace the x in px with a t so it reads pt. The edited string should look like this, where the number will be the size in points you’d like your font to be: <span style="font-size:14pt;">

    Visit this webpage for a side by side comparison of pixels vs points.

    Q: What if I use a merge field but not all of my contacts have data in that field?

    Check out this post for the answer.

    Q: Why does my email look different in Outlook (or Gmail, or ...)

    Email programs render your carefully crafted HTML email differently. Images that are lined up nicely in Gmail are staggered in Outlook. Margins and borders may be larger or smaller, and images may be distorted, over-sized or missing. Web pages use advanced HTML and CSS (cascading style sheets) to create stunning layouts, but email programs have not caught up with that technology.

     

    Our Email Builder uses the most compatible commands to minimize these differences, substituting in-line CSS that renders well in all major email programs. Avoid putting "HTML doctype" commands or stylesheet information in the email header, as the Email Builder has already taken care of those details. For the most consistent rendering across all email programs, use a table-based layout. Use your favorite search engine and search for "html email table based layout" to find thousands of articles describing the process.  For the truly adventurous and geeky who want to hand code their emails, this website has a list of the commands that are "universally supported" in the most popular email clients.

     

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    Comments

    • Avatar
      Jon Paul Ashworth

      Image size for email header?

    • Avatar
      Victor Fehlberg

      I keep running into this issue. I build a nice email, but when I look at it in Outlook (even being ported from Gmail) the image looks like garbage or doesn't appear at all. I check the email on the actual gmail site and it looks wonderful. The dynamic resizing of the image doesn't seem to be working right. I work with only businesses and most of them use Outlook. This means that it's very important to have my emails looking nice. I called Tech Support once and they just blew me off and said "It's a problem with Outlook and we can't fix it." I find it hard to believe you can't design the email client to send out emails that are dynamic enough to be seen correctly (or at least close to correctly) on all email clients.