System and method for generating colored table from variable height background content imagery to support rich content in multiple email readers

A computer-implemented method for translating an image into a table, comprising:

• receiving an image comprising a plurality of pixels;
• quantizing each of the pixels in the image into a predetermined maximum number of discrete colors;
• generating, from the quantized image pixels, a table representing the image and compatible for display by an email reader, the generated table comprising a plurality of table cells, each of the table cells corresponding to a discrete group of pixels and each of the pixels in the quantized image belonging to only one of the discrete group of pixels, each of the discrete group of pixels comprising at least one pixel and corresponding to either a single pixel or to a plurality of adjacent pixels that have been quantized into a same discrete color and are arranged in the quantized image having a first number of pixels in a first dimension and a second number of pixels in a second dimension;
• setting a background color cell in the generated table to one of the predetermined maximum number of discrete colors of the pixels belonging to the respective table cell's corresponding discrete group of pixels;
• inserting the generated table into an email message, wherein the email message is displayed in the email reader;
• and
• designating at least one cell in the generated table to receive, in a foreground layer of the cell, content from a user, such that the image as represented by the generated table appears as a background image to the received content when the generated table is displayed in the email reader.