HTML Email Table Patterns

When sending structured/tabular data by email (fee schedules, pricing, comparisons, timelines):

CRITICAL: Never regex-convert markdown tables

Email clients (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) strip <style> blocks and misrender complex markdown-to-HTML conversions. Build tables by hand in Python string interpolation.

Correct pattern (hand-crafted HTML)

rows = [
    ("Tier 1", "$3,300 (22%)", "$11,700", "2-14 days"),
    ("Tier 2", "$4,500 (30%)", "$10,500", "15-30 days"),
]
html = '<table cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="font-size:13px;color:#333;">'
html += '<tr style="background:#f5f5f5;"><td style="border:1px solid #ddd;padding:6px 12px;"><b>Scenario</b></td>... </tr>'
for r in rows:
    html += f'<tr><td style="border:1px solid #ddd;padding:6px 12px;">{r[0]}</td>...'
html += '</table>'

Cell styling

Attribute	Value
`cellpadding`	`"6"`
`cellspacing`	`"0"`
`border`	`"0"`
Individual cell style	`border:1px solid #ddd;padding:6px 12px;`
Header row	`<tr style="background:#f5f5f5;">`
Merged cells	`rowspan="2"` with `vertical-align:middle`

Multi-part message construction

msg = MIMEMultipart('alternative')
plain = MIMEText(markdown_text, 'plain')
html_part = MIMEText(full_html_doc, 'html')
msg.attach(plain)   # plain text first
msg.attach(html_part)  # HTML second (client picks last understood)

Common failure: misplaced closing quote

The Sho'Nuff closing quote goes between the last body paragraph and the signature <hr> divider, NOT inside the signature table block. Pattern:

full_html = body_content + f'<p><em>{closing}</em></p>' + sig_html

Not body_content + sig_html_with_quote_buried_inside.

1.7 KiB Raw Permalink Blame History