Email still JPEG: budget total KB, tame dark-mode inversion, and give plaintext when images are blocked
`email-gif-jpg` fixes “GIF does not animate in Outlook” or “motion blows the message into spam.” Static JPEG is safer but still fights Word’s renderer and dark-mode color inversion. Typical column width is ~600 CSS pixels; wider art gets client-scaled and soft. Remote images blocked by default show broken icons unless alt and plaintext carry the story. Inline attachments balloon KB and trip corporate gateways.
`email-gif-jpg`: export to column width, then regression-test Outlook, Gmail, and iOS Mail in dark mode
- Export sRGB JPEG to the letter’s column width; cap per-image KB and whole-message KB; never put the only CTA copy inside the bitmap—add a plaintext fallback.
- Test Outlook desktop, iOS Mail, and Gmail web in dark mode; if logos invert badly, switch to solid panels or split foreground/background treatment.
- Seed-list spam-score trials and log deductions for “image too large / odd aspect”; use absolute HTTPS links and monitor 404s on image hosts.
Email JPEG Q&A: broken images, spam scoring, dark-mode logo inversion
Marketing wants one giant hero—clients squash it into mosaic mush. Cut height or slice?
Cap single-image height and total megapixels first; split tall art into stacked `<img>` blocks with coherent alt. Validate in real inboxes, not a browser “email preview” that skips the scaling engine.
Many users see broken images—is the gateway blocking hosts or is the TLS chain incomplete on old Android?
Sample failing UAs and TLS errors; run mainstream probes for chain completeness. Enterprise mail often requires CDN hostnames on an allowlist—publish that list with the template.
Marketing wants a QR code inside JPEG but blocking makes it unscannable—raise quality or change layout?
QR needs crisp contrast and quiet zones—raise JPEG quality and margin; better yet use an HTML button or text link instead of scan-only art. Test phones under multiple lights, not a single monitor.
Outlook inverts a white-logo JPEG into mud in dark theme—switch to PNG or redesign?
JPEG cannot layer like PNG; add a subtle stroke, move to a solid panel, or rebuild as table-colored blocks. Validate on the Word rendering path, not Chrome alone.
Ten JPEGs exceed the internal KB cap and the MTA drops the message—how do we split without losing narrative order?
Drip across multiple messages or push decorative art to a landing page; when compressing, cut hero clutter last and protect above-the-fold CTAs. Encode per-message KB budgets in the template layer.