Outlook on Windows has very much been the Internet Explorer of email clients. The Outlook desktop app on Windows, along with the Windows Mail app, were the only reason developers had to continue building emails with HTML tables. (Outlook apps on macOS, iOS, and Android are unproblematic.)
[…]Tables within tables within tables…
It’s well past time that Outlook got a proper update, and it’s finally here. The new Outlook switches rendering engines from Microsoft Word to Edge. Support for CSS features in the new Outlook application appears to be identical to that of outlook.com, which is a great leap forward.
I had to read that quite a few times before I really internalised that yes, Outlook for Windows used Microsoft Word to render HTML emails.
Interesting. So, will MS Word also switch to the Edge/Blink engine or keep their own engine? (What is it needed for anyway? HTML export of Word files?)
You will be surprised how common that is. You will not build the site’s homepage using this obviously, but some of the internal pages can be Word exports, maybe with a “back” link added at the bottom (but even that is optional). If you are for example a professor wanting to get the information out, you don’t need much fluff.
Steve Sinofsky does highlight the use of Word being used by outlook, part of the integration of office as well as the horribly bumpy start outlook had at the beginning.
Would highly recommend his book :- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hardcore-Software-Inside-Rise-Revolution-ebook/dp/B0BSYF3447
Hardwarecore software
For editing it has always been more complicated, their are 3 formats (plain text, HTML and Rich Text) and 2 editors: IE and Word.
Now we only have to wait another ten years for the companies to actually update their software.
Oh thank god!
HTML email is a nightmare and it should burned and forgotten, but it’s a little less of a large piece of hell now.