Twenty-seven section designs. Every one built to actually send in Beehiiv.
An ideation library. Three-plus designs for each editorial block — news story, restaurant review, business spotlight, event of the week, volunteer opportunity, person of the week, deal of the week. Each block is built with email-safe HTML — inline styles, table layouts where structural, hex colors only, font fallbacks. Paste any one into a Beehiiv "Custom HTML" block and it ships.
§ 6.1
What renders in Beehiiv (and what doesn't)
The technical floor for every section below
Email clients are not browsers. Beehiiv supports a Custom HTML block but the rendered email still has to pass through Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook (desktop), Yahoo, and the long tail. Every section in this chapter is written to the email-safe floor below. Things that look great in a browser preview but get stripped on send have been excluded entirely.
Use freely
What survives every major email client
Inline styles only. Every style="" attribute on the element itself. No <style> blocks; Gmail strips most of them and Outlook is hit-or-miss.
Table-based layout.<table role="presentation"> with explicit widths, cellpadding="0", cellspacing="0". Tables are how email "grid" works.
Hex colors. Bluebonnet #2a3f66, rust #c4663b, gold #e9b85f, cream #f7f3e8, ink #1a1825. No oklch, no rgb-with-alpha.
Web-safe Google Fonts. Fraunces, Source Serif 4, Inter, JetBrains Mono — all degrade gracefully to Georgia and Arial on clients that strip custom fonts. Always include a fallback stack.
Hosted images.<img> with explicit width attribute. Use Beehiiv's image hosting or a CDN; never base-64 inline images.
Borders, padding, line-height. All inline on <td>. Works everywhere.
border-radius. Works on modern clients; degrades to square corners on Outlook desktop. Safe to use because the degradation is graceful.
600px max width. The de-facto standard width for an HTML email body. Anything wider gets squeezed on phones.
Avoid
What doesn't survive the send
CSS variables.var(--rust) works in browsers, fails in Outlook and partial elsewhere. Every color in this chapter is a literal hex.
Flexbox & CSS Grid. Outlook desktop ignores both. Use tables for structural layout.
Background images. Outlook strips them entirely. Use solid background-color on <td>.
Pseudo-elements.::before and ::after are stripped by most clients. Use a real element instead.
Inline SVG. Gmail strips it. Render any icon as a hosted PNG, or use a Unicode character (★ → · ✓ →).
@media queries. Outlook ignores them. Mobile email clients do honor them — you can use them for "better than basic" mobile, but the desktop layout must work without them.
Modern color functions.oklch(), color-mix(), hsl() with modern syntax. Hex only.
position: absolute, transforms, animations. None of it. Email is a printed-page model, not a rendered-app model.
One rule that solves most problems
If you can copy a block of HTML, paste it into a plain text file, open it in a 1995 browser and have it still look correct, it will send in Beehiiv. Inline styles, tables, hex colors, hosted images. That's the floor.
§ 6.2
News & civic story
Three variants · The most-used block
The default block for breaking news, civic accountability, and any story that lives or dies on its headline. Variants escalate from compact text-only to photo-led featured.
N-01
Compact text-only news block
Best for the digest
01 · CIVIC DESK
Round Rock approves a new $80M jail expansion in a 4 to 1 vote.
The vote came at the end of a four-hour commissioners' meeting that drew a standing-room-only crowd. Commissioner Bell, the lone "no," said the math didn't square with the growth he was seeing.
Use for The default story block. Most newsletters will have 3–5 of these stacked. Top rule + kicker + headline + body + read link. Nothing else.
N-02
With hero image
For lead stories
Photo by J. Alvarez for WilCo Guide
FEATURE · CIVIC DESK
Inside the year-long fight over the Williamson County jail bond.
Six commissioners, $80 million, and a vote that came down to a single seat. A first read on what just happened, and what comes next.
The vote came at the end of a four-hour commissioners' meeting that drew a standing-room-only crowd to the Williamson County Justice Center. Twenty-three of the thirty-one public commenters opposed the bond.
Use for The lead story of the week. Italic Fraunces dek between the headline and body gives the story a "feature" treatment without leaving the system.
N-03
Breaking-news block
For mid-week breaking sends
★ BREAKING
11:42 AM · MAY 16
Williamson County jail bond clears in a 4 to 1 vote, sending the $80M measure to November ballot.
Commissioner Bell cast the lone "no" after a four-hour meeting. We're updating live; refresh the site for the latest.
Use for Standalone breaking-news email. Ink bar with gold text reads as urgent without screaming. Keep these short — one headline, one paragraph, one link.
§ 6.3
Editorial & long-form story
Three variants · For deeper reads
When the goal is the reader sitting down with a piece, not skimming. Drop cap, pull quote, multi-paragraph opening.
E-01
Drop-cap opening · For features
Magazine-style
A FEATURE · BY M. REYES
The year the county slept through its own bond fight.
W
illiamson County approved a new $80M jail expansion in a 4-to-1 vote Tuesday afternoon, ending a year-long debate that almost nobody outside the courthouse seemed to follow. The lone "no" came from Commissioner Bell, who said the math didn't square with the growth he was seeing.
The expansion will add 460 beds to a facility that has been over capacity for 18 of the last 24 months. The county currently pays neighboring jurisdictions roughly $1.4 million per year to house overflow inmates.
Use for The Sunday-edition feature. One per newsletter maximum — drop caps are seasoning, not a default. The rust drop cap is the single biggest "magazine, not blog" signal in the system.
E-02
Pull-quote anchor · The story behind a line
Editorial
FROM THE EDITOR · LONG READ
"The math doesn't square."
"The math on an $80 million bond doesn't square with the population growth we're actually seeing on the ground."
Commissioner Bell · The lone "no" vote · Tuesday
Three days before the vote, Bell sat down with us for forty-five minutes in his office. What follows is the conversation, lightly edited for length, that explains his "no" — and what he thinks should happen next.
Use for Opinion, interviews, "the story behind" pieces. The quote IS the headline — the title beneath simply gestures at the topic. Rust left-border + paper-2 background sets it apart without being a callout box.
E-03
Multi-part editorial · Stacked sections
For longer reads
OPINION · TJ LARKIN
Why local newsletters beat local TV — and what that means for you.
Three short sections, three small ideas, one bigger argument.
01
Speed.
A newsletter ships when something matters. A 10 PM broadcast ships when the schedule says it does. By the time the broadcast airs, the news is two hours old and your phone has already told you. Newsletter wins.
02
Depth.
TV gives you ninety seconds. We give you eight hundred words and a link to the source documents. You decide which one of us trusts you more.
03
Voice.
A local TV anchor reads what a producer in another state wrote. A neighborhood newsletter is written by a person who knows what street you live on. Reader trust accrues to the person, not the franchise.
Use for Editor's notes, three-part arguments, "five takeaways" essays. Numbered rust mono headings break the read into chewable chunks. Easy to extend to N sections.
§ 6.4
Restaurant review
Three variants · From a quick blurb to a full feature
R-01
Compact review · Stars + verdict
For roundups
RESTAURANT REVIEW · CEDAR PARK
La Cocina de Maria has the best $12 plate in town.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★4 / 5 · Tex-Mex · $
Maria opened the spot in 2023 in the strip mall by the H-E-B. The plate: rice, beans, a small chile relleno, two homemade tortillas, and your choice of meat. The brisket is the move.
Use for The "what we ate this week" roundup. Stars rendered as Unicode (★ ★ ★ ★ ★) so they survive every client. Hours/address row sits on a cream tint to read as a card footer.
R-02
"Top 5 of the week" · Stacked roundup item
Repeatable list item
EATS · 5 NEW SPOTS THIS WEEK
01 ·Round Rock Coffee Co. Coffee · Main Street · $$
Single-origin since 2014. Espresso bar, drip, and a small breakfast menu. The biscuit sandwich is underrated.
02 ·Hutto Ramen House Ramen · Highland Park · $$
Opened in March. Tonkotsu is patient and rich; the spicy miso is the runaway crowd favorite.
Use for The weekly food roundup, "what's new in the directory," neighborhood guides. Each item is the same construction repeated — easy to compose in the CMS by filling in the same template.
R-03
Feature review · Photo + quote + verdict box
For destination spots
REVIEW · ROUND ROCK · BARBECUE
Old Iron Smokehouse is the best new BBQ joint in the county. We waited two hours to tell you why.
By K. Doyle · Photos by J. Alvarez · 10 min read
The line started forming at 9:42 AM on a Saturday. By the time the doors opened at 11, it stretched past the laundromat next door and out toward the railroad tracks. What the line gets you is something you'd recognize from a thousand miles of Texas barbecue: brisket sliced thick, ribs that pull clean, sausage you didn't know you needed.
"We started at 4 AM and we'll go till we're out. Some days we're out by 1, some days we make 3."
Use for The big monthly review. Hero photo, pull quote from the owner, three-axis star verdict, footer with hours. Use sparingly — one of these every two-to-four weeks is enough.
§ 6.5
Local business spotlight
Three variants · For directory features & sponsorships
B-01
Pro listing · Sponsored-style spotlight
Sponsored
★ PRO LISTING · BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
SPONSORED
SINCE 2014 · COFFEE
Round Rock Coffee Co.
Single-origin beans roasted on Main Street since 2014. Espresso bar, drip, and a small breakfast menu. Open 6–4 weekdays.
Use for The Pro listings sold at the property level. Rust top bar signals "sponsored" but the design itself is editorial, not advertorial. The CTA is a real button — pre-rendered as a colored td for max email-client compatibility.
B-02
"Now Open" · For new openings
Editorial
NOW OPEN As of May 12, 2026
FILIPINO BAKERY · LEANDER
Manila Sweet Bake opened on Lakeline.
A husband-and-wife team. Ube cheesecake, pandesal, a quiet espresso program. Open until they sell out, which is usually 2 PM.
Use for "Now Open" reports, restaurant openings, business launches. Bluebonnet date block on the left does the work that a hero photo would — fast and unambiguous.
B-03
Open this weekend · Quick-reference grid
Repeating weekly
OPEN THIS WEEKEND · ROUND ROCK
Eight places to find something good.
COFFEE Round Rock Coffee Co. SAT 7–4 · SUN 8–2
BARBECUE Old Iron Smokehouse SAT 11–OUT · SUN 11–OUT
RAMEN Hutto Ramen House SAT 11–10 · SUN CLOSED
BOOKSTORE The Reading Room SAT 10–6 · SUN 12–5
FILIPINO Manila Sweet Bake SAT 7–OUT · SUN 8–OUT
FARMERS MARKET Downtown Georgetown SAT 9–1 · SUN CLOSED
Use for Friday-edition "open this weekend" reference. Two-column repeating row pattern. The category color is the only category-specific styling — keeps the grid scannable.
§ 6.6
Event of the week
Three variants · Date block, list, mini-poster
EV-01
Single feature event · Big date block
For the headline event
SAT · MAY 18 9 AM – 1 PM
EVENT OF THE WEEK · DOWNTOWN GEORGETOWN
Spring Farmers Market & Live Music on the Square.
35 vendors, 4 musicians, food trucks on the east side. Free admission. Strollers and dogs welcome.
Use for The featured "event of the week" slot. Rust top stripe, bluebonnet date block, gold mono accents. Date number is the visual anchor — readable from the inbox preview.
Use for The weekly events digest. 4–8 events stacked. Date column on the left, kicker + headline + venue on the right. Category color lives only in the kicker.
EV-03
Mini-poster · For ticketed shows
Bold, single-event
ROUND ROCK SYMPHONY · 2026
A Season Finale at Centennial Hall.
SATURDAYMAY 18
DOORS5:30 PM
TICKETS$25 – $60
A new conductor, a new season, and a program that closes with Beethoven's Seventh.
Use for Ticketed events, fundraisers, special performances. Ink background, gold accents — the only inverted block in the system besides the breaking-news bar. Use sparingly. One per newsletter maximum.
§ 6.7
Volunteer opportunity
Three variants · For civic + community asks
V-01
Quick volunteer ask
Single shift
VOLUNTEER · NEEDED THIS WEEKEND
Round Rock Area Food Pantry needs 8 people, Saturday 9 AM to noon.
Sorting incoming donations and packing weekend bags for the elementary-school program. No experience needed. Coffee and breakfast tacos provided.
Use for Single-shift, single-org volunteer asks. Green top-stripe + green sign-up button signals "civic / service" — distinct from rust ("urgent / featured") and bluebonnet ("primary").
V-02
Multi-role volunteer board
For drives & campaigns
VOLUNTEER · OPEN ROLES
Four orgs that need help this month.
All vetted. All local. No background-check fee for any of these.
FOOD & HUNGER
Round Rock Area Food Pantry · 8 weekend volunteers
Sorting and packing. Sat 9 AM – 12. Coffee provided.
Use for Monthly volunteer roundup. Category kicker → name + ask → time / commitment line → individual sign-up link. Repeat the row template per org.
V-03
"Urgently needed" · For time-critical asks
For emergencies
★ URGENT · YOUR HELP TONIGHT
A house fire in Hutto displaced eight families. They need clothes, toys, and groceries by Friday.
The Red Cross is coordinating intake at the Hutto Community Center, 105 East Street, until Friday at 6 PM. Most needed: kid clothing (sizes 4–14), diapers (sizes 3–5), pantry staples (rice, beans, peanut butter, granola bars).
Three ways to help1 · Drop off donations at the Community Center, 105 East Street, by Friday 6 PM. 2 · Send money. Red Cross direct fund link below — 100% of donations go to displaced families. 3 · Share this newsletter with one neighbor.
Use for Disaster response, time-critical asks, urgent fundraisers. Rust bar at the top + rust CTA flag this as the most important block in the newsletter. Reserve for genuine emergencies — the system loses credibility if "urgent" is used loosely.
§ 6.8
Person of the week
Three variants · Profile spotlight, mini-Q&A, the line
P-01
Full profile spotlight
The featured person
PERSON OF THE WEEK · MAY 16
Sam Reyes
Pitmaster, Old Iron Smokehouse · Round Rock
Sam opened the spot in March after fifteen years cooking on a competition circuit. The line forms at 9:42 AM on a Saturday.
"We started at 4 AM and we'll go till we're out. Some days we're out by 1, some days we make 3."
Use for A weekly profile slot. Photo left, profile right, pull-quote anchor at the bottom. The "Person of the week" recurring kicker is part of the editorial voice — proper-noun the slot.
P-02
Mini Q&A · Three questions
For interviews
THREE QUESTIONS · TJ LARKIN
A short interview with Commissioner Bell.
The lone "no" vote on the jail bond.
Q · 01
You voted no. What changed your mind from "yes" eighteen months ago?
The math. We're growing fast but not as fast as the bond assumes. By the time the new facility opens we'll have spent more than we needed to.
Q · 02
What's the right number?
Probably $48–55 million. The same beds, in a phased build.
Q · 03
What happens next?
November 7. The voters decide whether this is the bond they actually want.
Use for Short interviews. Three to five questions. Each Q gets a mono number tag and a Fraunces bold question; each A is Source Serif. The construction is endlessly repeatable for any interviewee.
P-03
"The line" · One person, one quote
Lightweight slot
THE LINE OF THE WEEK
"We started at 4 AM and we'll go till we're out. Some days we're out by 1, some days we make 3."
Sam Reyes Pitmaster · Old Iron Smokehouse
Use for The recurring "best line we heard this week" slot. Lightweight — works as a tail block at the bottom of the newsletter. Single quote, single attribution, no story-link.
§ 6.9
Deal of the week
Two variants · Local-business offers
D-01
Single featured deal
Coupon-style
DEAL OF THE WEEK · ENDS SUNDAY
20% OFF
Any espresso drink at Round Rock Coffee Co.
Through Sunday May 18. Show this newsletter at the counter. One per person.
WILCO20
122 MAIN ST · ROUND ROCK · 6 AM – 4 PM
Use for A weekly partner-business offer. The dashed border references coupon vocabulary without leaning kitschy. Big rust percentage anchors the eye; mono code in dark sits like a real coupon code.
Use for The Friday-edition deals roundup. Three to five offers stacked, each with a left-column "discount glyph" (the percentage or value) acting as the visual anchor.
§ 6.10
Utility blocks
Weather, sponsor slot, divider, sign-off
U-01
Today in WilCo · Top-of-email status row
Weather + traffic + index
TODAY IN WILCO
78° & sunny · Brushy Creek bridge closes through Friday · HEB hiring at 4 stores
Use for Top of every Friday edition. Reads as a newspaper-style dateline ticker. Three pieces of locale-specific info, separated by middle-dots.
U-02
Sponsor slot · Sparse, branded, dignified
For paid sponsors
SPONSORED · TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Hill Country Credit Union · the local credit union for local people.
Open a checking account this month and get $200 — no minimum balance, no monthly fees, no catch.
Use for Paid sponsor slot, usually after the first 2–3 stories. Cream "SPONSORED" header makes the relationship transparent, but the body reads as a story, not an ad. No images — the rule is the type does the work.
U-03
Section divider · Star + label
Between sections
★ EATS
Use for Between thematic groups (news → eats → events → people). Two rust rules + a centered mono label. Subtle but unmistakable as the system's section divider.
U-04
Sign-off · The bottom of every edition
Footer
WilCo★Guide
Thanks for reading. Forward this to one neighbor who'd like it. That's how we grow.
Use for The bottom of every Friday edition. Mini-wordmark anchors the brand at the end of the read; a one-line sign-off, a casual ask to forward, and the compliance row.
What's next
How to use these in Beehiiv
Practical handoff
View source of any section. Right-click any block on this page, "Inspect," copy the inner HTML of .nl-frame. Everything inside is email-safe.
In Beehiiv, add a Custom HTML block at the spot in the post where the section should appear. Paste the copied HTML in.
Edit the placeholder content. Headlines, byline, body, links, image src URLs. Don't edit the structure — that's where the brand-grammar enforcement lives.
Always preview on iOS Gmail, Android Gmail, Apple Mail, and Outlook web before you send. Most templates here are tested for those four. Outlook desktop will drop border-radius gracefully (square corners) but everything else holds.
For Lightbreak's newsletter builder: these section sources are the basis of the editor's block library. The "fill-in-the-blank" inputs (kicker text, headline text, body text, image URL, link URL) become the editable fields in the builder. The HTML structure becomes the template.
What I didn't build
Photography direction wasn't included as a chapter — you mentioned you won't have staff photographers, and the photo overlay work already lives in the Social and Newsletter chapters. The sub-brand toolkit (how to spin up Cedar Park Scoop) is still a useful next chapter if you want it. Tell me if so, otherwise I'll loop back to refresh the cover and architecture chapters so the whole book reads as one consistent thing from front to back.
