API

Use the Maizzle API to compile a string to an HTML email.

Usage

First, require() the framework in your application:

app.js

const Maizzle = require('@maizzle/framework')

Then, call the render() method, passing it a string and an options object:

app.js

const Maizzle = require('@maizzle/framework')

Maizzle
  .render(`html string`, options)
  .then(({html, config}) => console.log(html, config))

The render() method returns an object containing the compiled HTML and the environment config computed for this template.

Options

options is an object with the following structure:

{
  tailwind: {
    config: {},
    css: '',
    compiled: '',
  },
  maizzle: {},
  beforeRender() {},
  afterRender() {},
  afterTransformers() {},
}

options is not required: when ommited, Maizzle will use the defaults below.

tailwind

Pass in a custom Tailwind CSS configuration, or a pre-compiled CSS string.

Option	Type	Default	Description
`config`	Object	`{}`	A Tailwind CSS config object.
`css`	String	@tailwind components; @tailwind utilities;	A string with CSS in PostCSS syntax. Gets compiled with Tailwind CSS. To use Tailwind, you should at least use @tailwind utilities
`compiled`	String	(empty string)	A pre-compiled CSS string, to use as-is. This will skip Tailwind compilation, resulting in faster render speed.

maizzle

The Maizzle Environment configuration object.

Type	Default	Description
Object	`{}`	A Maizzle config object.

The other options listed above, like beforeRender() {} , are Events .

Example

app.js

const Maizzle = require('@maizzle/framework')

const template = `---
title: Using Maizzle on the server
---

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <style>{{{ page.css }}}</style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <table>
      <tr>
        <td class="button">
          <a href="https://maizzle.com">Confirm email address</a>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </body>
</html>`

Maizzle.render(
  template,
  {
    tailwind: {
      config: require('./tailwind.config.js'),
      css: `
        .button { @apply rounded text-center bg-blue-500 text-white; }
        .button:hover { @apply bg-blue-700; }
        .button a { @apply inline-block py-4 px-6 text-sm font-semibold no-underline text-white; }
      `,
    },
    maizzle: require('./config.js')
  }
).then(({html}) => console.log(html)).catch(error => console.log(error))

Your template string must include <style>{{{ page.css }}}</style> inside the <head> tag as shown above, otherwise no CSS will be output or inlined.

Templating

Of course, templating tags are available when using Maizzle programmatically.

app.js

const template = `---
title: Using Maizzle programmatically
---

<extends src="src/layouts/main.html">
  <block name="template">
    <!-- your HTML -->
  </block>
</extends>`

Paths to Layouts or Components in your string to be rendered must be relative to the location where you execute the script.

Gotchas

Since the config you can pass to the render() method is optional, there are a few gotchas that you need to be aware of.

Default Tailwind

If you don't specify a Tailwind config object, Maizzle will try to compile Tailwind using tailwind.config.js at your current path.

If the file is not found, Tailwind will be compiled with its default config.

The default config is not optimized for HTML email: it uses units like rem and CSS properties that are used for web design and which have little to no support in the majority of email clients.

Transformers

Transformers, such as CSS inlining or minification, are opt-in: they transform content only when you enable them. Since you don't need to pass in a Maizzle config object, this means that most of them will not run.

The following Transformers always run:

Markdown (can be disabled)
Prevent Widows
Remove Attributes - removes empty style attributes by default
Filters - supports <style tailwindcss|postcss> tags and provides various text filters

CSS Output

The string to be compiled with render() must include {{{ page.css }}} in a <style> tag inside the <head>, otherwise no CSS will be output or inlined:

<!DOCTYPE html>
  <html>
    <head>
+      <style>{{{ page.css }}}</style>
    </head>
    <body>
      ...
    </body>
  </html>