Learn · email signature glossary
TL;DR
Table-based HTML is the practice of building layout with table, tr, and td tags rather than divs styled with flexbox or grid. The web abandoned this approach around 2005, but email never could: Outlook on Windows renders HTML with Microsoft Word's engine, which has no real support for modern CSS layout, and other clients strip or mangle positioning styles in their own ways. Tables are the one layout primitive that every major email client draws the same way, so signatures and marketing emails still use them.
Re: In practice
If you build a signature the way you would build a web page, with divs and flexbox, it will look fine in Apple Mail and then collapse into a vertical stack in Outlook. The Word rendering engine simply ignores display:flex. A table with explicit widths, on the other hand, holds its shape everywhere: logo in the left cell, contact details in the right cell, done. This is why every serious signature generator outputs tables even though the markup looks dated. The related habits matter too: set widths on cells, use cellpadding or padding on td elements rather than margins, and avoid relying on CSS that Word cannot parse. Ugly source code that renders correctly beats elegant code that breaks.
Fwd: Worth a look
signature generator definition
An email signature generator is a tool that turns your details into ready-to-paste, email-safe HTML, sparing you from hand-coding tables.
signatures in dark mode
Dark mode inverts email backgrounds and can make logos and text in signatures unreadable. Learn what changes and how to design around it.
signature color choices
Email signature colors are the text, accent, and link hues in your sign-off, set as inline hex values and chosen to survive dark mode inversion.
PNG vs JPG for signatures
PNG, JPG, and GIF are the image formats that work in email signatures. Learn which to use for logos, photos, and banners, and why SVG fails.
headshot in an email signature
An email signature photo is a small headshot beside your contact details that puts a face to your name. See sizing, format, and when to use one.
what an HTML signature is
An HTML email signature uses markup to add formatting, images, links, and brand colors to your sign-off. Learn how it differs from plain text.
Free generator, no account required. Works in Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail.
Try Free Generator