If you’re a BlackBerry or iPhone user, you’re probably well aware of just how popular mobile email is going to be in the future. With the recent announcement of HTML email support on the BlackBerry, not to mention the iPhone’s already stellar CSS support, it’s clear that the challenge for us email designers might not be as daunting after all. If you consider the recent prediction that 20% of email will be accessed wirelessly in 2 years, that’s a comforting thought.That’s the future, but what about the present? Currently, the BlackBerry only supports plain text, Windows Mobile 5 does plain text too, and Windows Mobile 6 scrapes in with basic HTML support. It’s not the prettiest of pictures.

If you’re interested in learning more about mobile email, Email Marketing Reports have a great list of resources, particularly on mobile email design. Even if you don’t read your email on a mobile device, you can safely bet that some of your recipients do.

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This site will give you screenshots from almost any browser available on all the popular operating systems.

No need to install new operating systems or browsers anymore.

Just need to register, then you’re ready to take screenshots. The catch is that screenshots sometimes take 5 minutes to generate.

Click here to visit the website.

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Another great post on Mike Kleiman’s blog. This time he offers some great tips with regards to image formats, size, etc. Here are some of the takeaways:

• JPG’s are best for larger graphics that consist primarily of images, such as a masthead photograph. GIF’s are perfect for smaller items which contain less colour complexity and/or text – graphical buttons, for example.
• Avoid saving anything in a format other than JPG or GIF. Though you might be tempted to save an image as a PNG for the sake of maintaining opacity percentages – it’s not a good idea. They work, but your file size will be huge. Instead, try to find a workaround or a different way to lay out the design.
• the difference between saving a JPG at 80% quality in Photoshop as opposed to 40% is usually negligible. Tinker with it to see how low you can bring down the percentage before the image becomes distorted. A jump from 80 to 40 may only have minimal visual impact but can save you a lot in the file size department.
• Take a step back and figure out what needs to be an image and what doesn’t. Often using simple HTML and inline CSS can replace the need for an image.

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Here are our tips for making your plaintext pretty (and a link to the plaintext version of this email to let you see them in action):

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Question: How can I save time when testing my email designs?

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