Why email signatures are still built with tables
Email clients are twenty years behind browsers. Outlook on Windows renders HTML with Microsoft Word, which ignores flexbox, grid and most modern CSS. Tables with inline styles are the one layout every client agrees on, which is exactly what this generator produces.
What belongs in a signature
- Your name, your role and the company — three lines at most
- One phone number and one email, both clickable
- The website, written without
https://so it reads cleanly - An address if you need one for legal or trust reasons
- A small logo, no wider than 120 px, hosted somewhere public
How to add it
- Gmail: Settings → See all settings → Signature → paste with Ctrl+V into the box.
- Outlook (new and web): Settings → Mail → Compose and reply → paste into the signature box.
- Apple Mail: Settings → Signatures → paste, then untick "Always match my default message font".
- Use "Copy the signature" for all three. "Copy the HTML" is for apps that take raw HTML.
Things that break signatures
- Images pasted from your computer become attachments. Host the logo at a public URL instead.
- Social icons are often blocked as external images; text links always work.
- Tracking pixels and banner images push mail towards the spam folder.
- Dark mode inverts some colours. Mid-tone text survives it better than pure black.
Keep it short
A signature is read once and skimmed forever after. Four lines and a logo is plenty; a quote, three social icons, a legal disclaimer and a 600 px banner is how a reply chain becomes unreadable on a phone.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add a signature to Gmail?
Build it above, press "Copy the signature", then go to Gmail → Settings → See all settings → Signature and paste it with Ctrl+V. The formatting and links come across.
Why does my logo show as an attachment?
Because it was pasted from your computer instead of linked. Upload the logo somewhere public and put that address in the logo field.
Will it look right in Outlook?
Yes. The signature is built from tables with inline styles, which is what Outlook’s Word-based renderer understands. Modern CSS layouts fall apart there.