HTML formated emails are considered the spawn of the devil by some. And by others it’s considered the next evolutionary step in email. Whichever side you sit on, both agree the HTML formated emails aren’t going anywhere and will only become more popular.

From a developers point of view, creating an HTML formatted email can be about as fun as root canal. Why? Because as opposed to browsers, which there are only 2-3 core browsers (calm down fringe browser people), there are 10-15 core email clients. The level HTML and CSS support varies greater then the level of support the browsers had in the dark days of the browser wars. To encourage browser makers to comply to the basic set of web standards support, the Web Standards Project was created. This was (and still is) a group that lobbied browser makers to support web standards. Proving that it was not only for the benefit for web developer, but also for end users and the browser makers themselves. They have been extremely successful their efforts.

The Email Standards Project aims to do the same for HTML/CSS standards support within email clients. They’ve just launched their official site which contains info on why this matters, what you can do, and a list of popular email clients and their current level of standards support. They’ve even created an Email Standards Acid Test for testing the level of support of each email client.

I encourage anyone who has to create HTML formated emails or anyone who relies on them as promotional tools for their business to visit the Email Standards Project and show your support.