Professional CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design, Second Edition

Chapter 7. AIGA Cincinnati: HTML Email Templates

	Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas.
	--Johnny Carson

American Institute of Graphics Artists (AIGA) was founded in 1914 to promote designing as "professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force." With more than 16,000 members nationwide and 56 local chapters, AIGA is one of the oldest and strongest design-related organizations in the country.

Local chapters such as AIGA Cincinnati are formed throughout the country to develop better relationships with its members and provide job banks and discounts on products and services, as well as put on conferences and offer networking opportunities and workshops.

To help promote its activities, AIGA Cincinnati wanted to improve its email messages to its members to raise awareness of events and, in turn, increase the level of participation. To this end, they wanted to use HTML email templates. These custom-designed layouts cover most of their activities every year (happy hour events for networking, mentoring programs for design students, and design competition) but are flexible enough to be adapted for new events as they crop up.

Dealing with HTML Email

Email was initially created for sending plain text; the use of HTML email to send images and markup over the Internet is only a natural progression from plain-text email because businesses and consumers wanted a better, richer experience in their email.

Now, almost all the popular email clients ...