Building Responsive Emails with Zurb Foundation Email

Building responsive emails with Zurb Foundation Email requires attention to detail and a solid understanding of its features.

Zurb Foundation Email is built on top of the popular front-end framework Zurb Foundation, which allows for easy integration with existing web applications.

To create responsive emails with Zurb Foundation Email, you can use its grid system, which is based on a 12-column layout.

This grid system is flexible and can be easily customized to fit different email clients and screen sizes.

Zurb Foundation Email also provides a set of pre-defined classes that can be used to create responsive email layouts.

These classes include .row, .column, and .small-12, which can be used to create a basic grid layout.

You can get started with Zurb Foundation Email by downloading the provided files. There are two ways to get started, selecting to build with their CSS version or Sass version, with CSS being the fastest way to get started.

Foundation's CSS version includes two files, "foundation.css" and "foundation-emails.css", which are used for the email's CSS. The templates folder has ready-to-use email layouts, including common layouts for newsletters, marketing, adding a sidebar, or featuring a hero image.

Inside the "foundation-email" folder, you'll find two folders, "css" and "templates", along with an index.html file. The index.html file is a boilerplate for HTML with the !DOCTYPE declaration, head element, body element, and an outline for creating a table.

HTML emails are built on tables, and Foundation includes the use of grids, typography styles, buttons, callouts, and more features. Foundation's grid includes a container, row, and columns, which can help you create a responsive email layout.

If you're new to email development, don't worry! The team behind Foundation is very helpful and provides a master class on Foundation for Emails in the form of an on-demand video series.

Typography is key to a well-designed email. Use fonts that are recognizable to most users.

Mixing multiple fonts can make your email look sloppy. Instead, stick to a single font throughout.

ZURB MASTER CLASS Responsive Emails teaches you how to design responsive emails that look beautiful on every screen and email client, including Outlook.

Using a single font throughout your email is a good rule of thumb. This helps create a cohesive look and feel, making your message easier to read and understand.

Mixing several different fonts can make your email seem fragmented and sloppy, which can be a turn-off for readers.

Responsive design is a must for emails, and ZURB's online classes can teach you how to rapidly design and develop responsive emails that look beautiful on just about every screen, browser, and email client out there—even Outlook.

Foundation for Emails is a framework for responsive HTML emails created by ZURB, a product design company in Campbell, CA. This framework is the result of building web products & services since 1998.

To create responsive layouts, you can use columns that divide your layout into horizontal sections that sit side-by-side. On small screens, these columns stack on top of each other to save space—unless you set them up to keep their layout on small screens.

To add a column, you'll need to use HTML code, such as the classes .small-12 and .large-6 to define the size of the column on small vs. large email clients. Foundation uses a 12-column grid, so on mobile clients, the column stretches the full width of the page, and on desktop clients, the column is half the width of the row.

You can use CSS classes to identify where a component starts, such as the container class that starts at the table with the .container class.

Coding HTML emails is a unique challenge, like traveling back in time to 1999. You need to use table-based layouts, inline styles, and accommodate clients like desktop apps and webmails.

Foundation for Emails is a powerful tool that watches as you code, compiling, inlining, and minifying the result ready for production. It's been widely tested in many desktop and mobile apps.

Coding HTML emails is a unique beast, unlike creating a normal web page. It's like traveling back in time to 1999. You need to use table-based layouts, inline styles, and accommodate various clients like desktop apps and webmails.

One way to make this process easier is to follow Nicole Merlin's tutorials. Another option is to use a modern HTML email framework like Foundation for Emails.

Here are some key differences between coding HTML emails and web pages:

Now that you've got a solid foundation, it's time to take your skills to the next level. You can check out the documentation for other framework components, like buttons and callouts, to see what else Foundation has to offer.

To really dive in, consider checking out the master class on Foundation for Emails, an on-demand video series that explores every aspect of email design workflow.