I've been coding HTML emails for several years, and I've been sending my HTML emails through Marketing Cloud for a few years. I have a good understanding of how to code an email to look consistent across Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and other clients.

I now need to create some templates in Email Studio to allow non-technical users to edit emails when I'm unavailable. I would be more comfortable taking my existing HTML files and pasting the code into a Marketing Cloud template. I've looked at the output when creating a drag-and-drop template, but I'm struggling to find a way to create editable content that contain my inline CSS and can render consistently across clients.

Here's what I've tried so far:

• I updated my HTML email file to include data- parameters (data-type, data-key, data-label). The email based on this template did not allow editing on the sections using these data- parameters.
• I started with a blank SFMC template, added an image block, then edited the HTML of that block to match my HTML structure and inline styles. My HTML edits were overwritten as soon as I edited the block properties (e.g. replacing the image src and wrapping link). A user needs to be able to change the image and wrapping link without breaking my styles.

Here's a snippet I tried for a hyperlinked hero image:

<a href="" alias="Hero Image" data-type="href" data-key="hero_link" data-label="Hero Image Link" target="_blank">
   <img src="+Image" alt="Hero image" width="600" height="auto" data-type="image" data-key="hero_image" data-label="Hero Image">
</a>

I need to be able to use ghost tables for Outlook subscribers, as well as inline styles on everything, from paragraphs to images. But the templating system in Marketing Cloud seems to hurt more than it helps. Is there any documentation for this that I've missed? I don't want to sacrifice quality for convenience.