How to write an email template

https://www.campaignmonitor.com/css/ keeps track of CSS feature support for email. You can see on the site basic features such as <style> tags don't have the same cross platform support as regular CSS.

So, for the best cross platform CSS support, email templates use inline css and tables to control position. It is difficult to do this by hand. So the best way to make an email template is to use a user friendly email maker like mailchimp's or gMail's.

Mailchimp's email creator:

Then email the result to yourself and inspect element on the email. Copy the HTML from the element inspector and paste it into a layout file.

An inspected email: