Email Not Displaying Correctly in Gmail: Fix CSS Grid Broken Columns for MJML Framework for Deliverability & Spam Audits
Spam filters analyze email HTML code quality alongside body copy. Unclosed tags, excessive styling block nesting, and broken link parameters are flagged as spam risks. Below is the targeted integration guide to fix CSS Grid Broken Columns inside Gmail Web (Desktop) templates when using MJML Framework.
Technical Breakdown
Gmail Web (Desktop) uses the Goog/WebKit Layout Engine which lacks support for standard rendering rules. This causes CSS Grid Broken Columns elements to break or collapse when rendering templates.
MJML Framework Behaviors
The MJML transpilation compiler parses dynamic columns and wraps them in custom HTML conditional tags. If you paste direct tables or VML code blocks inside an MJML layout without proper escaping, the MJML compiler will try to clean the code, resulting in stripped Outlook namespaces and broken layouts. Run your finished layouts through the Spam Word Auditor to catch trigger phrases and verify structural delivery alignments before launching.
Remediation Code Block
Always compile grid layouts using standard percentage-width or pixel-width nested tables aligned with the align='left' attribute. This acts as a responsive grid block that floats and adapts naturally to any viewport size. In your MJML Framework campaign manager, make sure you configure your links to run via {{unsubscribe_link}}.
<table role="presentation" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td width="48%" align="left" valign="top" style="padding-bottom:10px;">Col 1</td>
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="48%" align="left" valign="top" style="padding-bottom:10px;">Col 2</td>
</tr>
</table>Live Code Sandbox Test
How to Deploy inside MJML Framework
Copy the fixed VML or table wrapper code block from the remediation box above.
Wrap the entire RenderOps corrected table block inside an '<mj-raw>' tag block. This tells the MJML compiler to bypass parsing on this segment, exporting the exact conditional statements into the final HTML output.