Comments on: Using the font tag in Dreamweaver CS4

By: Deleting HTML tags in Dreamweaver CS4 — dwcourse.com

Deleting HTML tags in Dreamweaver CS4 — dwcourse.com — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:18:55 +0000

[...] year I wrote that it is still possible (although not recommended) to use the deprecated tag in Dreamweaver CS4. I recently got an email in response to that post asking how to remove the font tag from existing, [...]

By: jcook

jcook — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:24:49 +0000

Inline styles (an example is

are CSS but you CAN use them in emails. You can set other font properties the same way. If use the font-family property, limit yourself to the core set of fonts found on most computers.

BTW, this article has some more tips for creating HTML emails: http://groundwire.org/support/articles/css-and-email-newsletters

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:42:16 +0000

OK – i am a graphic designer turned – apparently by demand – an html email designer! I am struggling with inline styles. I THOUGHT i just created an email in dreamweaver with inline styles and they tell me now its css. How DO YOU EXACTLY create an inline style for fonts? Everything i search shows you css (which i pretty much get BTW) but cant use for email campaigns. Do I try the workaround you mentioned at the top post? Thanks so much – Amy

By: jcook

jcook — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:23:03 +0000

I don’t recommend using deprecated markup but there are situations (making updates to old pages, etc.) where iit can be justified. When I’m teaching I always stress using CSS which, I admit, can be fun in a geeky sort of way. Still it takes a lot of time and effort (much more than 10 minutes) to master. I’ve been using it for years and I’m still learning!

By: shan

shan — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:56:29 +0000

Teaching people how to continue using DEPRECATED MARKUP, is not a good idea… mho… and I’m not a CSS expert, (just a hobbyist struggling and wrestling with BUILDING websites). But CSS CAN be learnt. I did so, by just googling and finding kazillions of CSS tuts on interent. Also picked up a book or 2. I highly reccommend the following books: Russ Weakley’s “Sams Teach Yourself CSS in 10 Minutes”and e.g.: : Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way Using HTML & CSS, 2nd Edition”by: By Ian Lloyd. And to be honest: CSS is realy fun (sort of a puzzle).

By: jcook

jcook — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:22:32 +0000

Good news! And don’t be embarassed, I learn stuff everyday that’s old news to everyone else. BTW, CS4 makes the creation of inline style relatively easy.

By: Fay

Fay — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:00:02 +0000

I have a bit of a red face here…I’ve just read the online manual for Emma, the email service I’ve started using, and here’s what they say:
“To ensure your styles carry through when viewed in someone’s inbox, it’s best to write inline styles within the or tags. Here are a couple of examples:

(div styles and td styles shown here)

Font tags are quickly being phased out by the email environment, so it’s best to avoid them altogether. Web browsers and email clients are moving to CSS and inline styles like the examples above.”

so there ya go; maybe I don’t have to retro-learn any more after all.

By: jcook

jcook — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:38:31 +0000

It’s unfortunate that email programs aren’t keeping up with browsers.

By: Fay

Fay — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:33:24 +0000

Alas, emails (like used by online email marketing) don’t all support CSS. I just got CS4 and was stuck trying to find the ‘old’ way. And then had to try and remember how to do the ‘old’ way. sigh.

but thanks for posting this solution, it is still needed.

By: jcook

jcook — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:00:42 +0000

I’d still encourage you to continue learning CSS. I know it seems like a lot of effort to change just one word but consider that if you create a style (say .special) and apply it to that one word, it also becomes available for future use. Then, say you use it on 10 words throughout your site. To change them all only requires changing one line of code in your style sheet (no searching for all the instances, no updating all the pages).

In addition, well constructed CSS-based sites are much easier to make design changes to.

Bottom line is there’s little harm in “cheating” with a font tag occasionally with the font tag but it is poor practice and eventually may cause problems.