Despite a
concerted attempt by Twitter users to change Microsoft's thinking, the software giant has stood by a decision to use Microsoft Word to render HTML emails in their upcoming Office 2010 software.
The
campaign website fixoutlook.org
pulls down any mention of the keyword "fixoutlook" on Twitter and is being supported by the Email Standards Project, Campaign Monitor and Newism. Over 20,000 Twitter users had already joined the campaign at the time of writing with retweets and messages directly to the @msofficeus twitter account coming in fast.
Most email programs, including Outlook 2003, use a browser such as Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox to render emails. This method ensures support for common web standards which ensure emails display as the creator intended. Microsoft already uses Word to render emails in Outlook 2007, with the . However with a slow adoption rate the effects are only starting to be felt as more corporate clients are upgraded.
We have done some preliminary testing using Fingerprint here at Digital Media and have found some surpising results. One financial services newsletter we tested had a penetration rate of 93% for all versions of Outlook, with 29% of users already on the 2007 version. Essentially, its a big pain in the neck for future email design, especially B2B publications targeting the corporate sector.
Opposition centres around a number of key disadvantages the decision will create:
- No background images
- No support for CSS
- No animated .gif support
This
presents a serious problem as it will limit the
possibilities when creating compelling electronic direct marketing, forcing designers to use outdated techniques such as tables. It
also strips publishers of their ability to sell
animated advertising on email newsletters.
From fixoutlook.org
"This
means for the next 5 years your email designs will need tables for
layout, have no support for CSS like float and position, no background
images and lots more."
Microsoft have responded
"We’ve made the decision to continue to use Word for
creating
e-mail messages because we believe it’s the best e-mail
authoring
experience around, with rich tools that our Word customers have enjoyed
for over 25 years."
Microsoft has also emphasised that there are no official standards
for rendering HTML emails, calling into question the validity of the
Email Standards Project
It is worth noting that Google Gmail is also rated as 'poor' by the Email Standards Project.
