outlook 2003 html rendering

[kobus.dp]

We have a simple PHP loop which generates an html email which
dispatchest. Outlook 2003 then renders the loops differently. e.g.

<td style=3D'padding:2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt'>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><span =
style=3D'font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>4.
Correct
<o></o>
</span></p>
</td>
</tr>

------------------------------- notice the random space within
"correct" below.

<td style=3D'padding:2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt'>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><span =
style=3D'font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>8.
Co rrect
<o></o>
</span></p>
</td>

-------------------------------

Outlook 2007 does the following with the same email (pretty)

<td style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px;">12. Incorrect</td>
</tr>

---------------

Is there any way to rectify this or is it entirely up to Outlook 2003?
None of the other email clients are giving this problem.

Thanks
K

 

[Adrienne Boswell]

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed (e-mail address removed) writing in

We have a simple PHP loop which generates an html email which
dispatchest. Outlook 2003 then renders the loops differently. e.g.

<td style=3D'padding:2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt'>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><span =
style=3D'font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>4.
Correct
<o></o>
</span></p>
</td>
</tr>

------------------------------- notice the random space within
"correct" below.

<td style=3D'padding:2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt'>
<p class=3DMsoNormal><span =
style=3D'font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>8.
Co rrect
<o></o>
</span></p>
</td>

-------------------------------

Outlook 2007 does the following with the same email (pretty)

<td style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px;">12. Incorrect</td>
</tr>

---------------

Is there any way to rectify this or is it entirely up to Outlook 2003?
None of the other email clients are giving this problem.

Thanks
K

I don't use Outlook, or Outlook Express, or even Thunderbird. I use
Pegasus Mail. Did you test with that? Probably not.

There IS a reason I am saying this - that as difficult as it is getting
non-standard, propietary markup to look good across browsers, getting it
to "work" across myriad email clients is almost impossible.

Why do I say "almost" impossible? Because the best method is plain text
with a plain text link to the HTML content. Plain text works the same
in everyone's email client, probably won't be rejected by spam filters,
cannot contain viruses (unless they come as an attachment), and load
WAAAAYY faster.

 

[Jukka K. Korpela]

We have a simple PHP loop which generates an html email which
dispatchest.

Is there a URL through which we could check what the html email really
contains?

Outlook 2003 then renders the loops differently. e.g.

Loops? What loops? There are no loops in HTML or in email.

<td style=3D'padding:2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt'>

You're apparently showing us something Q encoded. This is one reason why a
URL would be essential.

<p class=3DMsoNormal><span =
style=3D'font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>4.
Correct
<o></o>
</span></p>
</td>
</tr>

Was this monstrosity generated by your code or are you actually showing us
just the result of munging by Outlook? In addition to the highly
questionable (well, wrong) font size of 7.5pt, it contains the bogus font
name "sans-serif" (which by definition refers to a font with that name as
its proper name, not to the generic font as per CSS specs).

And you have redundant (and potentially risky) <p> inside <td> (even though

------------------------------- notice the random space within
"correct" below.

We cannot assign the guilt without getting at least one solid fact, like a
URL.

Outlook 2007 does the following with the same email (pretty)

<td style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px;">12. Incorrect</td>
</tr>

So it also changes "4. Correct" to "12. Incorrect"? Fascinating.

Changing pt sized font size to px sized is just normal bogosity. If that's
what happens.