Formatting of email doesn't match what it looks like at gmail.com

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killme
Posts: 192
Joined: Sat May 22, 2004 7:49 am

Formatting of email doesn't match what it looks like at gmail.com

Post by killme »

I get emails (newsletters) from a specific company (SiftWallet). In PP the emails are extra wide causing me to either maximize the message window or I have to scroll horizontally to see the content. When I view the email at gmail.com it looks normal. It's actually pretty narrow looking at Gmail making me think it's formatted to look good on a phone. I'm not sure what's going on with the way PP is displaying it.
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mjs
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Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 2:36 am

Re: Formatting of email doesn't match what it looks like at gmail.com

Post by mjs »

Hi killme,

To help clarify the issue, please post 3 respective screen-shots that provide us with 1) a specific example of the newsletter that is set to "maximize the message window" as contrasted to 2) another example that is not maximized when you have to "scroll horizontally to see the content" of the newsletter message as well as 3) a screen-shot when you "view the email at gmail.com" that "looks normal".

Thanks.
Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. - Will Rogers
killme
Posts: 192
Joined: Sat May 22, 2004 7:49 am

Re: Formatting of email doesn't match what it looks like at gmail.com

Post by killme »

I've attached the screenshots.
maximized window
maximized window
normal window
normal window
gmail view
gmail view
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Jeff
Admin / Developer
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Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2001 9:46 pm

Re: Formatting of email doesn't match what it looks like at gmail.com

Post by Jeff »

Can you send a copy of the message source to me (support at esumsoft dot com):
1) View the message in POP Peeper
2) From the menu, select File / Save message as
3) Save the file and attach that file in your email to me (please include a link to this topic so I can compare the various screenshots again)
killme
Posts: 192
Joined: Sat May 22, 2004 7:49 am

Re: Formatting of email doesn't match what it looks like at gmail.com

Post by killme »

It's been sent.
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Jeff
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Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2001 9:46 pm

Re: Formatting of email doesn't match what it looks like at gmail.com

Post by Jeff »

Thanks for the source. Unfortunately, the problem is that the source isn't compatible with Internet Explorer. I viewed the HTML directly in IE11 and it has the same behavior.

It looks like the newsletter tries to account for IE with code like this:
<!--[if (gte mso 9)|(IE)]>
(mso is Microsoft Outlook), but it's apparently not sufficient. There are a lot more conditionals that use mso, so I tried removing all the conditionals (so that the code would run regardless; and there is code that is intended to restrict the width to 600 pixels) but it didn't seem to change IE's display.

The ultimate solution to this will be to replace the IE control with another, and the only *potentially* viable alternative I've found is based on Google/Chromium. I believe Mozilla had one at some point, but they stopped working on it. However, this isn't something that can just be added easily so I'll have to find the time to look into it to see if it will even work.

Until then, you can use the "Open message in client" option; which I tested and works for this message using ThunderBird.
killme
Posts: 192
Joined: Sat May 22, 2004 7:49 am

Re: Formatting of email doesn't match what it looks like at gmail.com

Post by killme »

Thanks for the explanation. I'm going to use that info to email Sift and see if they can update their emails and make them more compatible with Internet Explorer.
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