# Css and ActionMailer

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [January 20, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641 "2008-01-20T21:45:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexr)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641/1 "2008-01-20T21:45:54Z")

</div>

Hello!

I’ve been trying to send html with css emails with ActionMailer, the  
html part goes perfect, but the css doesn’t seem to work.  
I have tried using

and also embeding it in the html, like this:

body { .... }

but none of those ways seems to work :’(

Any ideas?

I’m using Rails 2.0.2

Thx in advance

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexr)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641/2 "2008-01-20T21:50:36Z")

</div>

Most email clients block links to external stylesheets. So your  
embedding version should work. I use this all the time so I’m not  
certain where you’re getting blocked. Have you tested it across  
multiple email clients? What does the raw email body look like? As you  
expect or is the css getting pared out?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexr)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641/3 "2008-01-20T22:13:27Z")

</div>

> Have you tested it across multiple email clients?

I’m sending the email to my gmail account (this one) and it doesn’t  
render  
the css.  
Now that you mention it I’m trying to watch it through thunderbird  
(using  
POP in my gmail account) and the embeded version works nicely. Any guess  
why  
gmail doesnt show the mail correctly?

> What does the raw email body look like? As you  
> expect or is the css getting pared out?

Yes, there are no characters scaped or something strange in the mail, at  
least, nothing that i noticed.

Here is a paste of the “Show Original” from gmail:

* * *

```
    Delivered-To: removed_email_address@domain.invalid
    Received: by 10.141.197.3 with SMTP id z3cs234339rvp;
            Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:59:51 -0800 (PST)
    Received: by 10.114.167.2 with SMTP id

```

p2mr3929238wae.78.1200862791200;  
Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:59:51 -0800 (PST)  
Return-Path: [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Received: from [pants.dreamhost.com](http://pants.dreamhost.com) ([pants.dreamhost.com](http://pants.dreamhost.com) [  
66.33.216.244])  
by [mx.google.com](http://mx.google.com) with ESMTP id  
k39si13460028wah.4.2008.01.20.12.59.50;  
Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:59:51 -0800 (PST)  
Received-SPF: neutral ([google.com](http://google.com): 66.33.216.244 is neither  
permitted nor denied by domain of removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid)  
client-ip=66.33.216.244;  
Authentication-Results: [mx.google.com](http://mx.google.com); spf=neutral ([google.com](http://google.com):  
66.33.216.244 is neither permitted nor denied by domain of  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid)  
smtp.mail=removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
Received: from [smarty.dreamhost.com](http://smarty.dreamhost.com) ([smarty.dreamhost.com](http://smarty.dreamhost.com) [  
208.113.175.8])  
by [pants.dreamhost.com](http://pants.dreamhost.com) (Postfix) with ESMTP id  
A3D8314C009  
for [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid); Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:59:50 -0800  
(PST)  
Received: from [oj.dreamhost.com](http://oj.dreamhost.com) ([oj.dreamhost.com](http://oj.dreamhost.com)  
[208.97.183.24])  
by [smarty.dreamhost.com](http://smarty.dreamhost.com) (Postfix) with ESMTP id  
436CFEE298  
for [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid); Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:59:49 -0800  
(PST)  
Received: from localhost.localdomain (localhost [127.0.0.1])  
by [oj.dreamhost.com](http://oj.dreamhost.com) (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3F8BAD070E  
for [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid); Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:59:49 -0800  
(PST)  
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:59:49 -0800  
From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
Message-Id: [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Subject:  
=?utf-8?Q?=5bVDC\_newsletter\_n=c2=ba=32=35=5d\_Lorem\_Ipsum?=  
Mime-Version: 1.0  
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8

```
    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <head>
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;

```

charset=iso-8859-1" /\>  
Lorem Ipsum

```
    <style type="text/css">
    * { padding: 0; margin: 0; }
    body {
     font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
     font-size: 14px;
    }
    #wrapper {
     margin: 0 auto;
     width: 800px;
     border: solid;
     border-width: 1px;
     border-color: #306;
    }

    #wrapper a{text-decoration:underline; color: #330066; 

```

font-weight:  
bold;}  
#wrapper a:hover{text-decoration:none; color: #cc00cc;}  
#wrapper a:visited{color: #996699;}

```
    #cabecera {
     width: 800px;
    }
    #navegacion {
     width: 780px;
     color: #ccf;
     padding: 10px;
     margin: 0px;
     background: #306;
    /* border: solid;
     border-width: 1px;
     border-color: black; */
    }
    #boletin-info .fecha {text-align:left; float:left;}
    #boletin-info .numero { text-align:right; text-decoration:

```

underline;}

```
    #central {
     /*background: url(central-1-2-col.gif);*/
     overflow: auto; /* Paul O Brien Fix for IE www.pmob.co.uk */
     width: 760px;
     padding: 10px 20px 10px 20px;
    /* border: solid;
     border-width: 1px; */
    }

    #enlaces {text-align:center; font-size: 16px; padding: 20px 0px 

```

20px  
0px;}  
#enlaces li{list-style-type:none;}

```
    #pie {
     width: 800px;
     color: #306;
     background: #fff;
     border: solid;
     border-width: 2px 0px 0px 0px;
     overflow: auto; /* linea magica, sino firefox hace cosas raras 

```

\*/  
font-size: 12px;  
}

```
    #pie li{list-style-type:none;}

    .pie-izq{
     color:black;
     width: 390px;
     padding:5px;
     float:left;
     display: inline; /* linea magica, sino firefox hace cosas raras 

```

\*/  
text-align: right;  
}

```
    .pie-dch{
     width: 390px;
     padding:5px;
     float:right;
     display: inline; /* linea magica, sino firefox hace cosas raras 

```

\*/  
text-align: left;  
}  
#disclaimer{  
padding: 10px 80px 10px 80px;  
font-size: 10px;  
background: #330066;  
color: #ccf;  
text-align: center;  
}

```
    #disclaimer a{ color: #969; font-weight: bold;}
    #disclaimer a:visited{ color: #ccc; }
    #disclaimer a:hover{ color: #ccf; text-decoration: none;}
    </style>

    </head>

    <body>

    <!-- Begin Wrapper -->
    <div id="wrapper">

    <!-- Begin cabecera -->
    <div id="cabecera">
      <img alt="Facultad de Informatica - Newsletter" src="

```

[http://boletin.yoteinvoco.com/images/cabecera.png](http://boletin.yoteinvoco.com/images/cabecera.png)" /\>

```
          <!-- Begin navegacion -->
    <div id="navegacion">
      <span id="boletin-info">
        <p class="fecha">5/1/2008</p>
        <p class="numero">boletin nº 25</p>
      </span>
    </div>
    <!-- End navegacion -->
    <div id="central">
      <h2>Lorem Ipsum</h2>
      <p class="cuerpo">
        Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.

```

Maecenas est dui, tempus quis, ullamcorper non, dictum vel, ligula.  
Quisque  
iaculis leo eget turpis. In a elit id elit semper fermentum. Mauris  
tincidunt odio id diam. Nunc fringilla eleifend urna. Donec fermentum  
scelerisque magna. Sed rhoncus. Nullam accumsan elementum ipsum.  
Maecenas ac  
purus. Nam gravida venenatis sem.  
  
  
  
Nulla facilisi. Vestibulum pretium lectus semper odio  
hendrerit  
pharetra. Cras eget sapien. Aenean pretium eros id justo. Proin  
pellentesque  
dolor. Vivamus enim arcu, varius vel, elementum ac, tempor et, pede.  
Donec  
ac libero. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et  
malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Integer nulla ante, consequat quis,  
dictum at, faucibus eu, metus. Cras aliquam. Integer consequat hendrerit  
odio.  
  
  
  
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et  
malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Donec diam orci, tristique at,  
bibendum  
accumsan, egestas eu, diam. Nullam elementum nisl ac urna. Etiam  
gravida.  
Phasellus euismod est eu ante. Suspendisse potenti. Nulla auctor nisi.  
Duis  
ut ipsum ut lorem consectetuer accumsan. Donec posuere dui eu massa. In  
condimentum ultrices nisi. Sed felis justo, adipiscing eu, ultrices  
eget,  
porttitor et, ante. Maecenas semper. Suspendisse ornare felis eget est.  
Aliquam eu ligula quis mi tincidunt scelerisque. Sed viverra. Nam id  
orci.  
  
  
  
Suspendisse et libero. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et  
magnis  
dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Morbi augue metus,  
interdum  
id, egestas sed, congue a, nulla. Fusce in enim eget diam pretium  
vestibulum. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia  
nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Pellentesque a risus a lectus interdum  
molestie. Nulla facilisi. Vivamus lectus tellus, cursus at, faucibus  
vel,  
ornare nec, purus. Vivamus non pede. Donec id augue. Nam sit amet augue.  
Nunc et metus sit amet nisl consequat sagittis. Sed venenatis nibh quis  
eros. Aenean viverra enim vel felis. Mauris mauris lorem, sodales ut,  
pharetra in, sollicitudin quis, tortor.

  

```
      </ul>
    </div>
    <!-- End central -->

          <div id="pie">
            <div class="pie-izq">
              <ul>
                <li>Vicedecanato de Calidad</li>
                <li>Facultad de Informática</li>
                <li>U.P.M.</li>
              </ul>
            </div>
            <div class="pie-dch">
              <ul>
                <li><a href="http://www.fi.upm.es/?pagina=441">

```

[Subdirector de Calidad y Acreditaciones-ETS de Ingenieros Informáticos (UPM)](http://www.fi.upm.es/?pagina=441)

- [http://www.fi.upm.es](http://www.fi.upm.es)  
  
- [http://www.upm.es](http://www.upm.es)  
  
  
  
  

  
Vd. ha recibido este correo de forma automatica porque  
así  
lo ha solicitado si desea  
darse de baja del servicio y parar de recibir correos  
pinche  
aqui  
y siga los pasos indicados.  

  

```
        </div>
        <!-- End Wrapper -->
      </body>
    </html>

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexr)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641/4 "2008-01-20T23:19:48Z")

</div>

Gmail isn’t going to let you do something dangerous like that, lol.  
They don’t even let you see external images without saying yes first  
🙂

On Jan 20, 3:21 pm, “Hassan S.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexr)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641/5 "2008-01-21T00:11:28Z")

</div>

On Jan 20, 2008 1:34 PM, kopf1988 [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Gmail isn’t going to let you do something dangerous like that, lol.

Are you suggesting that “inline CSS” is dangerous?? How so?

In any case, I can assure you that the HTML emails I do for clients  
render just fine in Gmail 🙂

> > In my experience, inline CSS gives the best results across a variety  
> > of email clients.

–  
Hassan S. ------------------------ removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexr)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641/6 "2008-01-21T15:37:31Z")

</div>

If one has to have HMTL/CSS emails, go “1996” HTML. Use tables for  
layout. That sort of thing.

Now I haven’t used this service but I saw it a while ago.  
[http://www.mailchimp.com/add-ons/inboxinspector/](http://www.mailchimp.com/add-ons/inboxinspector/)  
“MailChimp Inbox Inspector - Check your email marketing campaigns with  
one easy click”  
It renders your email in different clients so you can see how they  
look.

HTH  
John

On Jan 20, 5:10 pm, “Hassan S.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexr)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641/7 "2008-01-20T22:32:49Z")

</div>

On Jan 20, 2008 12:45 PM, Alejandro R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I’ve been trying to send html with css emails with ActionMailer, the  
> html part goes perfect, but the css doesn’t seem to work.  
> I have tried using
> 
> \<link href="http://url/stylesheets/layout.css" rel="stylesheet"

/

> and also embeding it in the html,  
> /  
> but none of those ways seems to work 😢

In my experience, inline CSS gives the best results across a variety  
of email clients.

## FWIW,

Hassan S. ------------------------ removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexr)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641/8 "2008-03-03T18:22:06Z")

</div>

Hi,

I have a scenario where in my system is generating the mail and it is  
being sent via my gmail acc and it has an attachment as well with  
predefined text and all. But when the same mail is sent from the  
clients system, then in my attachment the disclaimer of the client  
company is coming in.  
Why is this happening. My emails should have the settings of my  
account but why does the client settings chip in even when emails are  
being sent out using my account.

Any thoughts on this.

Neha

On Feb 19, 11:12 am, Patrick B. \<rails-mailing-l…@andreas-

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alexr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexr)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/css-and-actionmailer/126641/9 "2008-02-19T17:12:20Z")

</div>

I’m facing the same problem: sending an HTML mail formatted with an  
internal stylesheet be will displayed unformatted in some mail clients,  
i.e. GMail:

# Hello
Instead, you have to use inline style (inside an HTML element):
# Hello