Email Standards Project

Recommendations for Improvement

High Priority Recommendations

We believe it is critical that Apple improves .Mac to support the following CSS properties:

Background-image One core method of delivering accessible content is to call graphical elements using CSS rather than calling them inline. Contextually-relevant images (such as people, products, etc.) are most often appropriately called inline. However, graphics which make up the visual-design environment are best called using CSS. This not only improves separation of content/design, but it also helps with filtering for devices which do not support CSS because images aren’t downloaded. The benefits include bandwidth reduction, improved performance and enhanced presentation for text-only and aural email clients. When the CSS property background-image is not supported, images must be displayed inline. .Mac only offers partial support for background-position, depending on the context of the element being defined as the container. View a sample of how inline images look in a client which does not support CSS.

Background-position When background images are supported, support for positioning of said images becomes vital for readability. Background images are often placed inside a block-level element which also contains HTML text. The CSS property background-position helps us position background images so that nearby text doesn’t become unreadable. When positioning is unavailable, accessibility becomes a potential issue with the prospect of unreadability. .Mac only offers partial support for background-position, depending on the context of the element being defined as the container. View a sample of how .Mac supports one instance of background-position but not another.

Color/background-color Probably the most fundamental part of visual design is color; it’s the foundation for design. But beyond support for foreground/background colors for the sake of visual design, inconsistent or partial support can cause accessibility problems. When a black background color is eradicated while white text thereon is properly rendered, the result is white text on a white matte. .Mac specifically offers only partial support for color inheritance on h1 through h6 tags.

Descendant selectors An excellent way to help keep markup clean and to recycle CSS is to use descendant selectors. Without this support, IDs and classes must be applied to every element which needs to be styled. This bloats a file with unnecessary markup and complicates the production process. Specifically with .Mac this problem degrades what could be a decent webmail client. When styles are applied directly to elements, most everything on our list is supported. But their lack of support for descendant selectors cripples their client. Therefore we highly recommend Apple puts this on the top of their list for evolutions.

Float/clear The CSS property float is vital to designing with standards-based markup. When tables are removed from the designer’s toolbox, float is the groundwork for layout. Without it, an entire design can collapse. And as elements are floated in a layout, the property clear is there to make things right for any following elements. Clear ensures floated elements do not cloak adjacent content, float and clear go hand-in-hand. View a sample of how a lack of support for float can completely dismantle a layout.

Margin With no support for margin, a design looks considerably broken. But destroying the aesthetics of an email is just the beginning. When elements are forced together without a buffer, the text therein most often becomes unreadable. View a sample of how text becomes unreadable without appropriate margins on their container elements.

Padding While a lack of support for padding has fewer ramifications than margin, it is important for similar reasons. Most importantly because of its use in combination with other elements such as background-color, list-style-image and border. When used in combination with said elements, the impact of its absence is multiplied. View a sample of how a lack of support for padding can directly impact other supported properties.

Varying link-colors Linked text throughout an HTML document often resides atop varying background colors, and therefore in order to preserve readability link colors must be changed accordingly. If one parent link color supersedes link definitions which follow it, readability can be compromised. Because this extends beyond aesthetic characteristics we feel it is vitally important for accessibility.

Width/height Use of width is more common than height, and the latter is often used solely for aesthetic balance (extending background colors, etc.). But both are vitally important to any design as a lack thereof either can cause unreadability and demolish a layout. Width is critically important because the functionality of properties such as float and text-align are dependent upon it. When width is not supported, float becomes irrelevant and right-aligned or centered elements are not positioned respectively because the default width of a block-level element is 100%. And beyond the negative impact on aesthetics, a lack of support for height can lead to problems with readability as floated elements therein aren’t cleared without additional markup. View a sample of how a layout crumbles without support for width and height.

Normal Priority recommendations

While not absolutely critical, we would like to see Apple improve .Mac to support the following CSS properties:

Font family/size/weight/style When font properties are not supported, text is still displayed using default font values. While this degradation doesn’t result in unreadable content or inaccessibility, it does compromise design integrity. Most notably when a serif font becomes sans-serif, or vice versa. Fonts are an integral part of a visual design, and therefore proper support for font properties should be a pivotal part of an email client.

Font inheritance An excellent way to help keep markup clean and to recycle CSS is to take advantage of font inheritance. If font styling must be applied to every necessary selector, files are weighed down with unnecessary markup and the production process intensifies with extraneous labor.

Line-height With a lack of support for line-height, a design hardly falters to a state of unreadability or inaccessibility. But this property allows a design to breathe and increases the efficiency at which someone reads. Thus it adds value when used properly.

List-style-image A design can be enhanced by dressing up bullets in a UL. The two most popular methods for making this happen are the default list-style-image and an alternate, more controllable method using background-image and padding. When list-style-image is defined and then not supported, the degradation is minor in that a default bullet is displayed. However, it’s a modest property which, when supported, can greatly enhance a visual design

Version History

28 Nov 2007

Initial recommendations added

© 2008 Email Standards Project