Sunteți pe pagina 1din 18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature


By Kat Neville 1
Published on February 4th, 2010 in ASCII 2 , Email 3 , Inspiration 4 with 161 Comments

Email signatures are so easy to do well, that its really a shame how often theyre done poorly. Many people want their signature to reflect their personality, provide pertinent information and more, but they can easily go overboard. Why are email signatures important? They may be boring and the last item on your list of things to get right, but they affect the tone of every email you write.
Email signatures contain alternative contact details, pertinent job titles and company names, which help the recipient get in touch when emails are not responded to. Sometimes, they give the recipient an idea of who wrote the email in case it has been a while since they have been in touch. They are also professional: like a letterhead, they show that you run a business (in some countries, youre required to do so). Here are some tips on how to create a tasteful signature that works .

Be Concise
First and foremost, the senders header (the From field) should have a name, and you should use a company email address if you can. If someone sees stevies747@hotmail.com, theyll suspect its spam. If the senders header reads, Steve Stevenson Mister Stevenson Design Company <steve@misterstevenson.com>, theyll know its a professional email from Steve, their trusted designer. Start by making your website a link. Many email clients convert email addresses and websites into links automatically, but not always. When youre creating the HTML for an email, make sure the link will appear by adding writing it in HTML. And instead of linking text like My website, type out the URL, which will be useful for those who want to copy and paste the address. An email signature shouldnt double the emails length, so make it as short as possible (three lines is usually enough). Dont get into your life story here. The purpose of a signature is to let them see who you are and how to get in touch with you.
www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/ 1/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

MA K E S UR E T O I NC L UD E Your name, Your company and position, How to get in touch with you.
No need to include 10 different ways to get in touch with you. As in website design, less is more; and then theyll know which way you prefer to be contacted. Go to two or three lines, with a maximum of 72 character per line (many email applications have a maximum width of 80 characters, so limit the length to avoid unsightly wrapping). An optional fourth line could be your company address, but use caution if you work from home.
S t e v eS t e v e n s o n ,W e bD e s i g n e r w w w . m i s t e r s t e v e n s o n . c o m|s t e v e @ m i s t e r s t e v e n s o n . c o m

S HO R T A ND C O NC I S E , B UT C HE C K T HE R UL E S
In some European countries, laws dictate what items you must put in your email signature if you are a registered company. For example, UK law requires private and public limited companies to include the following:

Company number, Address of registration, VAT number, if there is one.


You can be fined for not including this information on all electronic correspondence and on your website and stationary. Many freelancers and small businesses have ignored these rules since their inception, risking a fine. For more information on UK rules, go here. Do some research to find out what rules apply in your country.
S t e v eS t e v e n s o n ,W e bD e s i g n e r w w w . m i s t e r s t e v e n s o n . c o m|s t e v e @ m i s t e r s t e v e n s o n . c o m 5 5M a i nS t r e e t ,L o n d o n ,U K ,E C 2 A1 R E C o m p a n yn u m b e r :1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

D O N T I NC L UD E Personal Twitter, IM or Skype details; Your home phone number or address (unless you want to be called by international clients early in the morning);
www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/ 2/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

The URL of your personal website; Random quotes at the bottom; Your entire skill set, CV and lifetime achievements in point form.
Random quotes are fun for friends, but you risk offending business associates with whom you dont have a personal relationship. Unless you want clients contacting you while youre watching Lost, dont share your home details far and wide. Also, dont share your personal contact information with your corporate partners. They certainly wont be interested in it, and you may not want them to know certain details about you. However, mentioning your corporate Twitter account or alternative means of contact in your signature might be useful, in case your correspondent is not able to get in touch with you by regular email.

Steve Stevenson, Web Designer


web: www.misterstevenson.com blog: blogspot.celebritiesneedhelp.com email: steve@misterstevenson.com home: 613.555.2654 home (wife): 613.555.3369 work: 613.555.9876 cell: 613.555.1234
55 Drury Lane Apartment 22 Ottawa, Ontario Canada twitter: @stevie_liverpool_fan skype : stevie_the_man messenger: stevie_mrstevenson I specialize in: Web design Graphic design Logo design Front-end development UI design Flying may not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price. -Amelia Aerheart Dont do this.

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

3/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

Images And Logos


Lets get this out of the way now: your entire signature shouldnt be an image . Sure, it will look exactly how you want, but it is completely impractical. Not only does an image increase the emails file size, but it will likely be blocked before being opened. And how does someone copy information from an image?

This signature is too big at 20 KB and impossible to copy.


Any images should be used with care and attention. If you do use one, make it small in both dimensions and size, and make it fit in aesthetically with the rest of the signature. 50 x 50 pixels should be plenty big for any logo. If you want to be taken seriously as a business person, do not make it an animated picture, dancing dog or shooting rainbow! Most email clients store images as attachments or block them by default. So, if you present your signature as an image, your correspondents will have a hard time guessing when youve sent a genuine attachment. The best way to include an image is to host it on a server somewhere and then use the absolute URL to insert the logo. For example, upload the logo to email signatures HTML, insert the image like so:
< i m gs r c = " h t t p : / / w w w . e x a m p l e . c o m / u p l o a d s / l o g o . g i f "w i d t h = " 3 0 0 "h e i g h t = " 2 5 0 "a l t = " e x a m p l e ' sl o g o "/ >
h t t p : / / w w w . e x a m p l e . c o m / u p l o a d s / l o g o . g i f.

And then, in your

Dont Be A Fancy Pants


US E V C A R D S W I T H C A UT I O N
While vCards are a great, convenient way to share contact information, in emails they add bytes and appear as attachments. It is often said that you shouldnt use a vCard for your email signature, because as helpful as it might be the first time you correspond with someone, receiving it every time after that gets annoying. Besides, the average email user wont know what it is. Look at the example below. Would an average user know what that is?
S t e v eS t e v e n s o n ,W e bD e s i g n e r w w w . m i s t e r s t e v e n s o n . c o m|s t e v e @ m i s t e r s t e v e n s o n . c o m

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

4/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

If you do want to provide a vCard, just include a link to a remote copy.

W HA T A B O UT C O NF I D E NT I A L I T Y C L A US E S ?
If your emails include confidential information, you may need to include a non-disclosure agreement to prevent information leaks. However, good practice is never to send sensitive information as plain text in emails because the information could be extracted by third parties or forwarded by recipients to other people. Thus, including a non-disclosure agreement doesnt make much sense if you do not send sensitive information anyway. Keep in mind, too, that the longer a confidentiality clause is, the more unlikely someone will actually read it. Again, check your countrys privacy laws. Some big companies require a disclosure with every email, but if youre at a small company or are a freelancer and dont really require it, then dont put it in. The length of such clauses can be annoying, especially in short emails.
W a r mR e g a r d s&S t a yC r e a t i v e ! A i d a nH u a n g( E d i t o r ) O n e x t r a p i x e l S h o w c a s i n gW e bT r e a t sW i t h o u tH i t c h w e b.h t t p : / / w w w . o n e x t r a p i x e l . c o m t w i.h t t p : / / t w i t t e r . c o m / o n e x t r a p i x e l T h i se m a i la n da n yf i l e st r a n s m i t t e dw i t hi ta r ec o n f i d e n t i a la n di n t e n d e ds o l e l y f o rt h eu s eo ft h ei n d i v i d u a lo re n t i t yt ow h o mt h e ya r ea d d r e s s e d .I fy o uh a v e r e c e i v e dt h i se m a i li ne r r o rp l e a s en o t i f yt h es e n d e r .T h i sm e s s a g ec o n t a i n s c o n f i d e n t i a li n f o r m a t i o na n di si n t e n d e do n l yf o rt h ei n d i v i d u a ln a m e d .I fy o u a r en o tt h en a m e da d d r e s s e ey o us h o u l dn o td i s s e m i n a t e ,d i s t r i b u t eo rc o p yt h i s e m a i l .P l e a s en o t i f yt h es e n d e ri m m e d i a t e l yb ye m a i li fy o uh a v er e c e i v e dt h i s e m a i lb ym i s t a k ea n dd e l e t et h i se m a i lf r o my o u rs y s t e m .I fy o ua r en o tt h e i n t e n d e dr e c i p i e n ty o ua r en o t i f i e dt h a td i s c l o s i n g ,c o p y i n g ,d i s t r i b u t i n go r t a k i n ga n ya c t i o ni nr e l i a n c eo nt h ec o n t e n t so ft h i si n f o r m a t i o ni ss t r i c t l y p r o h i b i t e d .

T h i se m a i la n da n yf i l e st r a n s m i t t e dw i t hi ta r ec o n f i d e n t i a l .I fy o uh a v er e c e i v e d t h i se m a i li ne r r o rp l e a s en o t i f yt h es e n d e ra n dt h e nd e l e t ei ti m m e d i a t e l y . P l e a s en o t et h a ta n yv i e w so ro p i n i o n sp r e s e n t e di nt h i se m a i la r es o l e l yt h o s e o ft h ea u t h o ra n dd on o tn e c e s s a r i l yr e p r e s e n tt h o s eo fC o m p a n y . T h er e c i p i e n ts h o u l dc h e c kt h i se m a i la n da n ya t t a c h m e n t sf o rt h ep r e s e n c e o fv i r u s e s .C o m p a n ya c c e p t sn ol i a b i l i t yf o ra n yd a m a g ec a u s e db ya n yv i r u s t r a n s m i t t e db yt h i se m a i l . C o m p a n ym a yr e g u l a r l ya n dr a n d o m l ym o n i t o ro u t g o i n ga n di n c o m i n ge m a i l s ( i n c l u d i n gt h ec o n t e n to ft h e m )a n do t h e rt e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n so ni t se m a i l a n dt e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n ss y s t e m s .B yr e p l y i n gt ot h i se m a i ly o ug i v ey o u r c o n s e n tt os u c hm o n i t o r i n g . * * * * * S a v er e s o u r c e s :t h i n kb e f o r ey o up r i n t .

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

5/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

D O N T B E A F R A I D T O S HO W S O ME P E R S O NA L I T Y
Although your email signature should be concise and memorable, it doesnt have to be boring. Feel free to make your email signature stand out by polishing it with your creative design ideas or your personal touch. Using a warm greeting, adding a cheeky key as Dan Rubin does or encouraging people to stalk you as Paddy Donnelly does, all show personality behind simple text. The key to a simple, memorable and beautiful email signature lies in balancing personal data and your contact details. In fact, some designers have quite original email signatures; most of the time, simple ASCII is enough.
h :h t t p : / / d a n i e l r u b i n . o r g w :h t t p : / / s i d e b a r c r e a t i v e . c o m b :h t t p : / / s u p e r f l u o u s b a n t e r . o r g m :+ 12 3 45 6 78 9 0 1 i :a n i n s t a n t m e s s a n g e r k :h=h o m e ,w=w o r k ,b=b l o g ,m=m o b i l e ,i=a i m ,k=k e y

P a d d y T h eS i t e :h t t p : / / i a m p a d d y . c o m S t a l kM e :h t t p : / / t w i t t e r . c o m / p a d d y d o n n e l l y

W i t ho p t i m i s m , D m i t r yB e l i t s k y h t t p : / / b e l i t s k y . i n f o

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /M a t t h i a sK r e t s c h m a n n / / / k r e m a @ x x x x x x x x . x x / / / / / /f r e e l a n c ed e s i g n e r& / / / w w w . k r e m a l i c i o u s . c o m / / / / / /p h o t o g r a p h e r / / / w w w . m a t t h i a s k r e t s c h m a n n . c o m / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /m e d i as t u d i e s/c o m m u n i c a t i o ns c i e n c e&a r th i s t o r y / / / / / /M L UH a l l e W i t t e n b e r g / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

W i t hg r e e t i n g sf r o mF r e i b u r g ,G e r m a n y , V i t a l yF r i e d m a n( e d i t o r i n c h i e f ) S m a s h i n gM a g a z i n e h t t p : / / w w w . s m a s h i n g m a g a z i n e . c o m-h t t p : / / w w w . t w i t t e r . c o m / s m a s h i n g m a g o n l i n em a g a z i n ef o rd e s i g n e r sa n dd e v e l o p e r s

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

6/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

HT ML ?
If you can, stay away from HTML formatting. Every Web designer knows the pain of HTML newsletters, and while HTML is supported for email signatures, youll likely have problems with images and divider lines in different email clients. Some nice ASCII formatting may work in some cases.
c a r o l eg u e v i n.e d i t o r / / / /d e s i g n+d i g i t a lc u l t u r em a g a z i n e / / / /h t t p : / / n e t d i v e r . n e t

M i n ,T r a nD i n h C h i e fC r e a t i v eD e s i g n e r-F r e x yS t u d i o W e b s i t e :h t t p : / / f r e x y . c o m|B l o g :h t t p : / / m i n . f r e x y . c o m|E m a i l :i n f o @ f r e x y . c o m C e l l p h o n e :( 8 4 )0 1 23 4 56 7 8

-R e n eS c h m i d t-B e r a t e rf rW e b E n t w i c k l u n g&e C o m m e r c e , L i n u x W e b s e r v e r S y s t e m a d m i n i s t r a t i o n&W e b P r o g r a m m i e r u n g V o r d a m m4 6 ,2 1 6 4 0H o r n e b u r g ;h t t p : / / w w w . r e n e s c h m i d t . d e / T e l :0 1 2 3 . 4 5 6 . 7 . 8 9 0 ;S k y p e :r e n e A T r e n e s c h m i d t . d e S t e u e r n u m m e r4 3 / 1 4 1 / 0 9 1 8 0 ;U S t I d N r2 1 9 0 1 4 8 6 2 B E G I NP G PS I G N A T U R E V e r s i o n :G n u P Gv 1 . 4 . 9( M i n g W 3 2 ) C o m m e n t :U s i n gG n u P Gw i t hM o z i l l a-h t t p : / / e n i g m a i l . m o z d e v . o r g / i E Y E A R E C A A Y F A k t i t 8 s A C g k Q u c S a n G 9 d r m 2 Z Y A C g g I e Q S T / C 2 2 6 L I s d / c z E m r n r R T j U A n i V P X I 2 l k A 6 8 f y 3 n + n U a w d A E 1 n J / = + v Z R E N DP G PS I G N A T U R E -

G e o f fT e e h a n T e e h a n + L a x W e bP l a t f o r m s | D i g i t a lC a m p a i g n s | M o b i l eA p p l i c a t i o n s | S t r a t e g i cC o n s u l t i n g T :4 1 61 2 34 5 6 7x8 9 0 | t e e h a n l a x . c o m | t w i t t e r . c o m / @ t e e h a n l a x

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

7/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

D m i t r yD r a g i l e v Z U R B|M a r k e t i n gL e a d g e t s t a r t e d @ z u r b . c o m h t t p : / / w w w . z u r b . c o m F o l l o wo u rb l o ga t : h t t p : / / w w w . z u r b . c o m / b l o g F o l l o wu so nT w i t t e r :@ z u r b h t t p : / / t w i t t e r . c o m / z u r b C h e c ko u tN o t a b l e-E a s i e s tw a yf o rt e a m st o p r o v i d ef e e d b a c ko nw e b s i t e s . h t t p : / / w w w . n o t a b l e a p p . c o m -

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ W e b s i t e :w w w . w e b d e s i g n e r d e p o t . c o m T w i t t e r :w w w . t w i t t e r . c o m / D e s i g n e r D e p o t

R e g a r d s , M a t tW a r d E c h oE n d u r i n gM e d i a W e b-h t t p : / / w w w . e c h o e n d u r i n g . c o m B l o g-h t t p : / / b l o g . e c h o e n d u r i n g . c o m T w i t t e r-@ e c h o e n d u r i n g-F o l l o wm e !

D a nR u b i n S i d e b a rC r e a t i v e{D i r e c t o ro fT r a i n i n g&U s e rE x p e r i e n c e} m o b i l e :+ 12 3 45 6 78 9 0 1 h t t p : / / s i d e b a r c r e a t i v e . c o m

D a v i dL e g g e t t T u t o r i a l 9F o u n d e r 5 5 5 . 0 1 2 . 3 4 5 6 7 @ t h e l e g g e t t T u t o r i a l 9 . n e t

G a r e t hH a r d y G r a p h i cD e s i g n e r|D o w nW i t hD e s i g n w w w . d o w n w i t h d e s i g n . c o m g a r e t h @ d o w n w i t h d e s i g n . c o m + 4 4( 0 )0 1 2 34 5 67 8 9

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

8/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

G r a n tF r i e d m a n w w w . c o l o r b u r n e d . c o m F o l l o wm eo nT w i t t e r ! h t t p : / / t w i t t e r . c o m / c o l o r b u r n e d -

M a n yt h a n k s , Y a i l i . y a i l i . c o m|w e b d e s i g n e r n o t e b o o k . c o m|l o n d o n c h r o n i c l e s . c o m + 4 4( 0 )1 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 0 s k y p e :i n a y a i l i

T h a n k s ! J o n a t h a nC u t r e l l ,E d i t o r F u e l Y o u r I n t e r f a c e . c o m|@ F u e l I n t e r f a c e|@ j C u t r e l l

A l lt h eb e s t , R o bB o w e n C o p y w r i t e r|D e s i g n e r|C r e a t i v eC o n s u l t a n t C o F o u n d e r / E d i t o r@A r b e n t i n g &D e a dW i n g sD e s i g n s h t t p : / / a r b e n t . n e t / b l o g h t t p : / / d e a d w i n g s d e s i g n s . c o m

A r s e n y P l e a s ec o n s i d e rt h ee n v i r o n m e n tb e f o r ep r i n t i n gt h i se m a i l . A r s e n yV e s n i n h t t p : / / d e s i g n c o l l e c t o r . n e t C a l e n d a r :h t t p : / / 2 0 1 0 . d e s i g n c o l l e c t o r . n e t P r o f i l e :h t t p : / / d e s i g n h u b . r u T w i t t e r :h t t p : / / t w i t t e r . c o m / d e s i g n c o l l e c t o r F l i c k r :h t t p : / / w w w . f l i c k r . c o m / g r o u p s / d e s i g n c o l l e c t o r 6 V i m e o :h t t p : / / v i m e o . c o m / c h a n n e l s / d e s i g n c o l l e c t o r F a c e b o o k :h t t p : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / d e s i g n c o l l e c t o r

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

9/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

W a r mr e g a r d s , D i p t iK a n k a l i y a {d i p t i . k a n k a l i y a @ s t u d i o m a r c h . c o m} S t u d i oM a r c hP r i v a t eL i m i t e d 1 2M o l e d i n aR o a dC a m pP u n e1I n d i a P h o n e :+ 9 1 2 0 2 6 3 3 4 0 0 2 {h t t p : / / w w w . s t u d i o m a r c h . c o m} M a r c h C a s tT h eS t u d i oM a r c hb l o g {h t t p : / / w w w . s t u d i o m a r c h . c o m / m c} T h i si sa no f f i c i a le m a i lf r o mS t u d i oM a r c hP r i v a t eL i m i t e da n di sp r o t e c t e d b yad i s c l a i m e r .I fy o ua r en o tt h ei n t e n d e dr e c i p i e n to ft h i se m a i l ,p l e a s e v i s i t :h t t p : / / w w w . s t u d i o m a r c h . c o m / l e g a l / e m a i l .

Of course, if youre really keen to use HTML, keep it simple :

Make sure it still looks good in plain text. Use black and standard-sized fonts, and stay away from big, tiny and rainbow-colored fonts. Dont use CSS. Inline HTML formatting is universally accepted. Use common Web fonts. Including a logo? Make sure the signature looks nice even when the logo doesnt load or is blocked. Check how it looks when forwarded. Do all the lines wrap correctly? You may want to load your company image as your gravatar from Gravatar.com as Joost de Valk does. Feel free to experiemnt with your e-mail signature: Jan Diblk uses a signature with dynamicaly changed promo image.

Steve Stevenson, Web Designer www.misterstevenson.com | steve@misterstevenson.com

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

10/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

11/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

12/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

13/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

Separate Signature From Content


Your signature should clearly be a separate entity. Wikipedia explains the correct way to separate the signature: The formatting of the sig block is prescribed somewhat more firmly: it should be displayed as plain text in a fixed-width font (no HTML, images, or other rich text), and must be delimited from the body of the message by a single line consisting of exactly two hyphens, followed by a space, followed by the end of line (i.e., \n). This allows software to automatically mark or remove the sig block as the receiver desires.

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

14/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

There are other less standard ways to separate your signature. While not automatic formatting, a line of , ======, or _______ or even just a few spaces will visually separate your signature from your email.
D a nO l i v e r( e d i t o r ) . n e tm a g a z i n e( w w w . n e t m a g . c o . u k ) T w i t t e r :d a n o l i v e r E m a i l :d a n . o l i v e r @ f u t u r e n e t . c o m P h o n e :0 1 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 A d d r e s sf o rd e l i v e r i e s : . n e t ,U n i t s1&2C o t t r e l lC o u r t , M o n m o u t hP l a c e ,B a t h ,B A 12 N P -

---------------------------------------E l l i o tJ a yS t o c k s E l l i o tJ a yS t o c k sD e s i g nL t d . R e g i s t e r e di nE n g l a n d&W a l e s# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 h t t p : / / e l l i o t j a y s t o c k s . c o m ----------------------------------------

# # # C h e e r s , D a n

V e n n l i gh i l s e n L a r sB k B y r l e d e r&T e k s t f o r f a t t e r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J S S ! S t o r g a t a1 5 ,2 4 0 8E l v e r u m M o b( + 4 7 )0 12 34 56 7 x x x x @ j o s s . a s|w w w . j o s s . a s

I n f o r m a t i o nA r c h i t e c t sI n c . T o k y oZ u r i c h O l i v e rR e i c h e n s t e i n ,F o u n d e r h t t p : / / i n f o r m a t i o n a r c h i t e c t s . j p h t t p : / / w e b t r e n d m a p . c o m h t t p : / / t w i t t e r . c o m / i A -

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

15/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

Wrestling With Your Email Client


Offering general advice on signatures is easy, sure. But anyone who has tried to implement automatic signatures in Outlook, Gmail or Yahoo knows its not always that simple. Here are some resources to help you get yours right every time. Outlook Changing Outlooks signature is a real pain, but heres a guide that teaches you a few things. If you use Outlook 2003, heres another tutorial on custom signatures. Entourage Microsofts mail for mac works differently. Heres a tutorial on how to set it up. Gmail Want just one basic signature? Heres how to change the text. Youd think Google would allow you multiple signatures, links and a bit of formatting. If youre looking for something a little more designed or wish to choose between multiple signatures, here are five ways to do it in Firefox. Hotmail Tips on custom images and more for Hotmail (Oh my!) can be found here. If you use Windows Live, here is a tutorial on adding images and HTML. The detail is helpful, even if the images are awful. Yahoo After a bit of research, I found that Yahoo used to support HTML signatures, but no longer. Heres how to change your signature using rich text. Apple Mail Here is a pretty decent tutorial, with some inline HTML for formatting. It then explains how to implement it in the application. You even get some hints on how it will look on the iPhone. Palm Pre Learn how to customize your message on your Palm Pre here. iPhone Customize your Sent from my iPhone message here. BlackBerry Some information on how to change your message on BlackBerry smartphones here.

Resources
About the Signature Block on Wikipedia 5
www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/ 16/18

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

Email Signature Etiquette 6 Creating, Installing and Using HTML e-Mail Signatures: Technical Considerations 7

Related Posts
You may be interested in the following related posts:

How To Create A Great Web Design CV and Rsum? 8 Business Card Design: Better Than A Plain Ol Business Card 9 Invoice Like A Pro: Examples and Best Practices 10
(al)

F O O T NO T E S :
0

Kat Neville - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/author/kat-neville/?rel=author ASCII - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/tag/ascii/ Email - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/tag/email/ Inspiration - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/tag/inspiration/ About the Signature Block on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_block

Email Signature Etiquette http://www.hanselman.com/blog/EmailSignatureEtiquetteTooMuchFlair.aspx Creating, Installing and Using HTML e-Mail Signatures: Technical Considerations http://www.digitechbranding.com/pages/email-signature-HTML-programming.html How To Create A Great Web Design CV and Rsum? http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/01/10-handy-tips-for-web-design-cvs-andresumes/ Business Card Design: Better Than A Plain Ol Business Card http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/20/effective-business-card-design-better-than-aplain-ol-business-card/ Invoice Like A Pro: Examples and Best Practices http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/05/invoice-like-a-pro/
17/18

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

1/1/14

The Art And Science Of The Email Signature | Smashing Magazine

Kat Neville is a freelance Canadian web designer (living in the UK) who is constantly coming up with too many ideas for new websites. She also loves arts and crafts, gardening and going on adventures. You can find her design work at safetygoat.co.uk.

With a commitment to quality content for the design community. Made in Germany. 2006-2013. http://www.smashingmagazine.com

www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/04/the-art-and-science-of-the-email-signature/

18/18

S-ar putea să vă placă și