I’m having trouble with my HTML email in Gmail. I encoded all my images (including some spacer gifs) as base64 strings to prevent them from not loading. It works great everywhere else, but Gmail won’t show the images at all.
I’ve tried looking into this issue, but I can’t figure out what’s going wrong. Has anyone else run into this problem? Is there a trick to getting base64 images to work in Gmail?
Also, I’ve heard about using cid:url for email images. Would that be a better option? Any advice would be super helpful!
<!-- Example of base64 image in HTML email -->
<img src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAYAAAAfFcSJAAAACklEQVR4nGMAAQAABQABDQottAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" alt="Example Image">
ugh, base64 in gmail is a nightmare! i’ve been there too. honestly, just host ur images somewhere n use regular urls. it’s way easier and works everywhere. gmail’s weird about security stuff, so base64 is kinda hit or miss. good luck!
I’ve encountered this issue before, and it can be frustrating. Gmail tends to block base64-encoded images for security reasons. Instead of using base64, I’d recommend hosting your images on a reliable server and using absolute URLs in your HTML email.
If you’re concerned about images not loading, you could implement a fallback system by using a standard image tag with a src attribute pointing to your hosted image, and adding a base64-encoded version in the onerror attribute.
Regarding cid:url, it’s mainly used for email clients that support MIME multipart messages. Though it can work, it is not universally supported and can be tricky to implement correctly. For best results across email clients, stick to hosted images with absolute URLs. This approach is more reliable and simpler to manage over time.
I’ve been designing HTML emails for years, and I can tell you that base64 encoding is a tricky beast, especially with Gmail. While it seems like a good idea in theory, it often causes more problems than it solves.
In my experience, the most reliable method is to host your images on a CDN or your own server and use absolute URLs. This approach has consistently worked across all major email clients, including Gmail.
As for cid:url, I’ve found it to be more trouble than it’s worth. It’s finicky to implement correctly and doesn’t offer significant advantages over hosted images.
One tip I’ve learned the hard way: always test your emails across multiple clients before sending. Tools like Litmus or Email on Acid can save you a lot of headaches. They let you see how your email renders in different email clients, including Gmail.
Remember, when it comes to email design, simplicity and consistency are key. Stick to tried-and-true methods, and you’ll have much better results.