Introduction

Email HTML is a specialized HTML output format optimized for rendering in email clients. Email clients have limited and inconsistent HTML/CSS support, so this format uses table-based layouts and inline styles to maximize compatibility across clients like Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail.

Stencila generates Email HTML by first encoding documents to MJML, then rendering the MJML to HTML.

Usage

Use the .email.html file extension, or the --to email option, when converting to Email HTML e.g.

stencila convert doc.smd doc.email.html

Implementation

Email HTML encoding is implemented in the Rust crate codec-email. Documents are first encoded to MJML markup, then rendered to HTML using the mrml crate. Only Article nodes are supported as root nodes.

Limitations

Email HTML is encode-only. It cannot be parsed back into Stencila documents.

Interactive elements (e.g. code execution widgets, interactive figures) are not supported in email output.

Complex layouts, wide tables, and large images may not render well across all email clients.

Only Article nodes can be encoded; other root node types will produce an error.