Testing HTML emails on a Mac

Posted in Web Design on Friday, 19th February 2010 at 12:46PM

HTML emails are notoriously difficult beasts to tame thanks to patchy/non-existant  support for web standards in most of the main email clients.  One of the worst offenders and the most widely used of these is Microsoft Outlook and for those of us who try to spend as little time as possible in a Windows environment, it can be tricky to test.  In this article I will give an outline of how I test HTML emails using my mac with both local applications and online test suites.

Testing locally

Online ’screen-grab’ systems are great for testing html emails in the full range of email clients but there is something re-assuring about seeing your handy work natively in the actual email client.  Whilst some of the major clients are easy to test on a mac (apple mail, thunderbird, gmail etc..), outlook is a little trickier and requires a copy of windows running under bootcamp or a virtual machine.

Outlook 2008

Probably the most important client to have tested thoroughly on I found that it was possible to install the trial version of Microsoft Office 2008 then keep on receiving email long after the trial had expired.  Whilst it does prompt you each time you launch to register the application this doesn’t pose an issue and this method has proved a quick, reliable and simple way to test emails in Outlook 2008.

Outlook 2003

This was a bit trickier to track down as there are no longer trial versions available to download but I eventually  came across a portable version of Outlook 2003 available from less official sources (do a search for Outlook 2003 portable torrent).  Whilst this method might not be strictly ‘by the book’ it is a great way to test on this still widely used browser.  Just download the folder to your Windows installation, launch the application file and set up your email account – no installation necessary.  Outlook 2003 can also be tested for free on Email on Acid and Litmus online services (see below).

Online test suites

One really convenient way to test in a multitude of email clients all at once is to use an online test suite which takes your html email and renders it in a variety of the main email clients.  The three I have used are Litmus, Email on acid and Campaign monitor.

Email on acid

Pros: Whilst it is no longer free to use it is still one of the more affordable paid for services with a couple of email clients still available to preview without charge.  As well as the screen renders they also offer a useful code conflict tool which highlights any possible conflicts with individual browsers.  With both pay as you go and monthly tariffs are available and you can perform tests from as little as $3 ($1 if you are willing to buy 300 credits at once).  I found Email on Acid to be the fastest of the three to produce the finished renders and with a user friendly and fun interface.

Cons: I have had a couple of results with text formatting that turned out to be slightly inconsistent with results from the actual applications but this was whilst the product was still in Beta so may well have been remedied by now.

Campaign monitor

Pros: Convenient to use if you are already using their product for distributing your email campaigns as your account will already be set up with the emails uploaded and ready to test.  I have found the results to be consistently accurate and the spam filter test that is included with the service is useful.

Cons: I found Campaign Monitor to be slower than Email on Acid to produce all the renders and it was also a couple of dollars more expensive for a single test.

Litmus

Pros: Whilst Litmus is a paid for service it can be used free of charge with the Pure 360 distribution system or to view a couple of clients via their main portal.  I have found the results to be reliably accurate and inline with real world results.

Cons: I have on occasion struggled to get renders to appear for all the different email clients and sometimes I have only managed a couple  but this may be a restriction placed on the free service bundled with Pure 360.  It can also be a little slow to produce results and there doesn’t seem to be a pay as you go option, only subscriptions.

Summary

I tend to use a combination of methods to test my html emails.  I would usually start by testing locally until I am pretty sure everything is rendering correctly in Outlook, Apple Mail etc… then move to a test suite for the final check and for backup to show the client if things go wrong once the email is out of my hands.  If the client is using Pure 360 I tend to use the Litmus testing service as it is free, otherwise I would use Email on Acid.