On November 14th, E mail on Acid launched its so anticipated new choice “Marketing campaign Precheck”.
Its foremost function is checking e-mail accessibility.
Accessibility is one thing all of us try to have in our e-mail templates as we would like recipients with imaginative and prescient impairments and dyslexia to have the ability to “learn” our emails, as properly.
Two months again, we printed a weblog publish on greatest practices to make emails accessible.
So, we had been anxious to check out how this Marketing campaign Precheck actually works.
Step 1. Exporting your e-mail template
There are two methods to export your e-mail templates to E mail on Acid:
1. As HTML-file
To export your e-mail as HTML-file, you must:
- click on the export button above the template;
- select “HTML”;
- choose “Obtain HTML file” with pictures hosted on the Stripo servers;
- you’ll have it downloaded as an online web page;
- open Chic or Atom (packages to learn and edit HTML codes). You’ll be able to, really, use Notepad, however I want these companies;
- drag this webpage in Chic;
- copy whole code;
- go to E mail on Acid;
- click on the Precheck menu tab;
- paste the code into the “Present your e-mail HTML” window;
- click on “get began”.
2. As URL hyperlink
This manner is way simpler and sooner and checks proved they each work equally properly, however I nonetheless want the primary one ?
So, so as to paste the URL hyperlink into the code window, you must:
- click on the preview button on the prime of the web page;
- press “open in a brand new tab”;
(that is the way you share your preview hyperlink with pals and colleagues for approval)
- in a brand new tab, copy the hyperlink;
- in E mail on Acid, click on the Marketing campaign Precheck;
- paste it into the URL discipline of the “Present your e-mail HTML” window;
Step 2. Checking shade contrasts
I like to recommend beginning with this step previous to going any additional right into a deeper a deeper evaluation. The possibilities are you would possibly want to revamp some components. As an example, your colours don’t distinction, or you could possibly have used inexperienced over purple — on this case, your copy won’t be legible for shade blind individuals.
Step 3. E mail accessibility analyses
Now, lastly, we’re prepared to begin analyzing our emails.
Earlier than you click on “Subsequent”, E mail on Acid exhibits you what components they’re going to verify.
1. Setting the language
In that publish of ours on e-mail accessibility, we stated that the majority coders suppose that we actually ought to set the language.
If in case you have it executed, then your e-mail code will begin with the:
<html lang="en">
This code goes earlier than the <head> in e-mail HTML.
However in case you have not set it, then E mail on Acid will ask you to do it
I’m actually sorry however I doubt concerning the necessity of this tag in HTML code, as my TalkBack (Android) and Display screen Reader (Home windows 10) nonetheless spoke the language I set manually on it.
Once I set Russian within the Display screen Reader settings, however the e-mail had the <lang=“en”> tag specified, I nonetheless heard some nonsense: English phrases with Russian method of studying.
E.g.: my e-mail topic line title was “Gmail, new template 47”
However the display screen reader pronounced it as:
[ʒma:ˈil nev ˈtemplatə ˈsɔːrak sem] — horrible. If I had not identified what it was about, I might have hardly guessed it.
Attempt to set Spanish in your Display screen Reader to have some enjoyable. ?
In different phrases, it doesn’t matter what language you set in your emails, the language set in your display screen reader issues.
2. Setting the content-type
All e-mail templates designed by our coder have already got this kind set.
It’s positioned within the subsequent line proper after the <head>:
<meta charset="UTF-8">
In case you don’t use Stripo, however use another e-mail template builder, make certain so as to add the content-type manually.
What is that this content-type for? It helps us “see” all letters simply the way in which they’re, be their letters of the French alphabet or the Chinese language characters, in addition to many different symbols and characters we could use in our emails.
In different phrases, that is essentially the most supported content material kind for proper show of varied symbols.
Resulting from this content-type, it’s possible you’ll make certain that all of your characters, regardless of how uncommon they’re, might be displayed appropriately on all units.
What I cherished most about this function: E mail on Acid means that you can select the charset in accordance along with your e-mail targets.
As an example, in case your contact base has residents of the EU solely, it’s possible you’ll set the ISO-8859-1 content-type.
3. Setting “presentation” position
All HTML e-mail templates include tables. However we code them in numerous methods. Thus, some templates do require this “presentation” position set, whereas others don’t.
For the purity of experiment, I’ve examined the identical template with and with out the “presentation” position laid out in it. And I heard no distinction in any respect.
Simply nothing!
So, in case you utilize our templates, the place tables are wrapped within the <desk> tags, we don’t advocate including this position to all of your tables (86 on this e-mail) so as to not exceed allowed e-mail weight limits, which is just 102 Kb for Gmail, btw.
However this selection may be method helpful for individuals who wrap tables in <div>.
What I cherished most about this function: regardless of what number of tables you’ve got in your e-mail templates, the software will add the “presentation” position to all of them to save lots of you time.
4. Eradicating the title attributes
Each title and alt attributes are totally vital for HTML emails.
What are they for? The alt textual content is displayed within the picture container when the picture itself is just not displayed. It additionally helps us move spam filters efficiently. This attribute is required and is learn by all display screen readers.
The title of the picture is proven when a recipient mouseover the picture.
The Voice Over Display screen Reader by Apple reads each the alt and picture title attributes. Consequently, these individuals who endure from imaginative and prescient impairments will hear the “title” of the picture twice. It may be fairly annoying.
FYI: the Home windows display screen reader and the Android Talkback learn solely alt attributes.
However as we all know, 37% of recipients use Macintosh or iPhones and iPads. We don’t know in the event that they learn emails on their very own os use VoiceOver. Which means that if we don’t take away these picture titles, greater than the third a part of recipients with imaginative and prescient impairments might be irritated by listening to the identical info twice.
What I cherished most about this function: by eradicating these titles out of your emails, you save someone’s occasions and ears.
And your e-mail code weighs much less. ?
In Stripo, we intentionally duplicate alt textual content or title attributes to be sure that our and our customers’ recipients see each see titles and alt texts set for the pictures in emails.
Quickly, we are going to take away this selection.
Nonetheless, we are going to carry on asking our customers to set the alt attributes as we do now and can carry on auto filling this discipline in case some coders neglect to set the alt texts because it’s very important for spam check filters, for display screen readers and is beneficial in conditions when pictures will not be proven in emails to let the recipients know what the e-mail is about.
5. Setting the picture alt textual content
Within the earlier paragraph, we defined what makes alt textual content vital to e-mail accessibility.
And like we stated, Stripo fills this info in robotically in case one forgets to do it to assist her or him move spam filters. However we fill it in with <alt=“”>. That is proper sufficient to get into Inbox, not a spam folder, however display screen readers will not be supplied with any info concerning the picture.
Fortunately, E mail on Acid Marketing campaign Precheck reminds its customers so as to add alt textual content.
So long as I had executed it previous to testing my e-mail, the software confirmed:
What I cherished most about this function: not solely it reminds us to set alt texts, but additionally, for our comfort, highlights the picture you’re employed with.
6. Enhancing distinction ratio of colours
Colorblind individuals and all those that endure from imaginative and prescient deficiency affirm that colours must be vibrant, distinction one another. It’s inappropriate to make use of orange over yellow and gray over blue.
E mail on Acid exhibits which objects I ought to regulate, enhance. What I preferred most about it that they provide colours that match but are very vibrant.
From now on, you received’t be utilizing yellow over white. Not less than, it made me use brown as an alternative of the yellow.
Earlier than the check:
After their recommendations:
What I cherished most about this function: when you let the system to regulate the colour, it picks the colour that’s near yours however brighter and deeper.
The one factor I might change about this selection is the way in which it really works with backgrounds. At the moment, it fails to differentiate some background colours and contemplate them as pictures. So, it let me ship the e-mail with black font over gray background.
7. Enhancing hyperlink accessibility
All hyperlinks must be accessible and visual, in any other case, a few of our readers received’t be capable of get to the touchdown pages they might are likely to.
For many who use display screen readers, it doesn’t matter how our hyperlinks look because the software will know it’s a hyperlink by the tag <href>. There’s no must work on the hyperlinks design.
But, by some means E mail on Acid recommends us to underline the hyperlinks:
Sadly, I’ve to disagree on this: we aren’t to underline hyperlinks or make them cursive because it distracts dyslectic readers, in keeping with the examine performed by the “British Dyslexia Affiliation”.
For these individuals, we must always write hyperlinks in daring solely. Similar issues individuals with different imaginative and prescient impairments, like myopia.
Confirmed: underlined hyperlinks distract dyslectics and those that endure from myopia.
8. Setting and previewing preheader textual content on varied units
We all know that sender title, topic line and e-mail preheader present up in e-mail inboxes; recipients see them earlier than they get to open these emails.
E mail on Acid reminds us to fill these fields out with correct info. And on prime of that, they present what it seems like in 14 e-mail shoppers:
Cell:
- iPhone 6;
- iPhone 6+;
- iOS Gmail;
- iOS Outlook;
- Android Gmail.
Desktop:
- Apple Mail;
- Outlook 2007;
- Outlook 2010;
- Outlook 2013/2016;
- AOL;
- Gmail;
- Workplace 365;
- Outlook.com;
- Yahoo.
What I cherished most about this function: attributable to it, you get an opportunity to enhance (lower or improve) your topic and preheader textual content.
9. Reviewing emails when they’re zoomed in
Do you know that many individuals with myopia zoom emails in to learn them? Once I used this selection, I didn’t like what my copy regarded like. So, I needed to get again to the preliminary e-mail, improve the road spacing after which import it once more.
Now because of E mail on Acid my copy, even when zoomed in, is fairly legible.
What I cherished most about this function: if you need, you may make these adjustments proper on this software (they’ve the code editor).
10. URL validation
Hyperlinks are the core of our emails — they take recipients to their procuring carts, to our sale pages, to a web page with particulars on new merchandise. It’s totally vital to validate all of your hyperlinks previous to sending emails to the contact base.
I don’t actually perceive why E mail on Acid didn’t approve my hyperlinks — I copied and pasted them into my e-mail template.
11. Picture validation
Previous to checking emails, we set pictures’ sizes — top and width. In Stripo, you possibly can regulate each parameters, or choose to set both width or top, and our builder will alter the opposite parameter proportionally by itself.
In case you forgot to do it, or your software doesn’t enable setting picture sizes, then Marketing campaign Precheck’s picture validation will enable you to set picture dimension — width and top — and picture borders.
Why do we’d like picture borders? As a result of some outdated e-mail shoppers will add these horrible thick blue borders to these pictures which shouldn’t have them set.
In case you don’t need to see any borders in your e-mail, then select “borders=0”.
If you already know that your recipients solely new variations of e-mail shoppers, then skip this step.
What I cherished most about this function: right here I’d love to focus on two of them:
- сompression — you don’t want to fret concerning the picture dimension anymore. This software will compress your pictures if they’re method too giant;
- estimated load time — if the picture giant, it’ll let you know how lengthy it would take to obtain on totally different community speeds (3G, 4G, LTE, desktop).
Step 4. Report
Don’t fear if you happen to skip any a part of the check mistakenly. The software will remind you to get again to it.
The truth is, after the complete checking course of has been completed, you may get an in depth report:
- you see which components of your e-mail nonetheless require enhancements — in my case, these are distinction ratio and hyperlinks;
- you get the chance to see the code adjustments. Whenever you click on this button, they are going to in truth even evaluate the 2 codes: earlier than and after. It’s very handy. Subsequent time when designing one other marketing campaign, you possibly can omit these errors;
- the chance to obtain the property. In different phrases, you possibly can obtain your “mounted” e-mail to indulge prospects with stunning and accessible emails.
Abstract
E mail on Acid are the pioneers within the “Test e-mail accessibility” course. They’re the primary and at present the one one who has developed such a software. It’s user-friendly, makes it simple to import and verify emails. On the finish of the verify, they supply us with an in depth report and allow to obtain the improved template — I anticipated them to simply advocate which components and tags to exchange.
Additionally they provide a trial model for 7 days.
The one two little issues I might change about this software are:
- the flexibility to verify whether or not emails adjust to the set of necessities for dyslectics;
- a reminder for us so as to add punctuation marks after every line, or on the finish of our price provide, as with out punctuation, any display screen reader reads the textual content with out pauses. Tough to take heed to such texts.
Proper now, we’ve to do by ourselves.
For my part, this Marketing campaign Precheck by E mail on Acid goes past expectations. Use this hyperlink to get their trial model.
Both so as to abide by the laws, or to point out our care and assist to all recipients, all of us are to make use of this software to make emails extra accessible.
