What email width is recommended?

The standard recommendation is 600px maximum width for the content area. This ensures compatibility across the widest range of email clients, including older desktop clients and preview panes that haven't evolved with screen sizes.

Modern considerations: Some designers push to 640-700px for audiences skewed toward modern clients and mobile (which ignores desktop width anyway). Others use narrower widths (480-550px) for text-heavy emails that benefit from shorter line lengths and reading comfort.

Width is a constraint, not a target. You don't have to use all 600px. A 500px email with ample margins can look more elegant than a 600px one packed edge-to-edge. The recommendation is a maximum, not a goal. Choose width based on your content needs, audience devices, and design aesthetic-just don't exceed what clients can reliably display.