Podcast player block: Add email rendering

[allilevine]

Fixes https://linear.app/a8c/issue/CML-821/add-email-rendering-for-podcast-player-blocks

Proposed changes:

• Add email rendering to the podcast player block.
• Add tests.

Email client compatibility:

Here's how it renders for me in Gmail:

That's a smaller, pill-shaped table version of the current rendering, for better email client compatibility.

In Outlook 2021:

Dark mode:

Mobile:

Other information:

• Have you written new tests for your changes, if applicable?
• Have you checked the E2E test CI results, and verified that your changes do not break them?
• Have you tested your changes on WordPress.com, if applicable (if so, you'll see a generated comment below with a script to run)?

Jetpack product discussion

https://linear.app/a8c/project/switch-to-centralized-email-rendering-solution-aacb0b060431/overview

Does this pull request change what data or activity we track or use?

N/A

Testing instructions:

• Apply these changes to your sandbox using bin/jetpack-downloader test jetpack add/podcast-player-email-rendering.
• Sandbox the API and turn on write access.
• Add the wc-email-editor sticker to a test site. See PCYsg-eQj-p2
• Create a post with a podcast player block. You can use https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/67587e77c705e441797aff96
• Send yourself a test email.
• Click the podcast link in the email.

Notes:

• To test with a WoA dev or self-hosted site you'll need to set it up to connect to your sandbox.
• We don't apply any editor styles to the block (currently the case).

[github-actions]

Are you an Automattician? Please test your changes on all WordPress.com environments to help mitigate accidental explosions.

• To test on WoA, go to the Plugins menu on a WoA dev site. Click on the "Upload" button and follow the upgrade flow to be able to upload, install, and activate the Jetpack Beta plugin. Once the plugin is active, go to Jetpack > Jetpack Beta, select your plugin (Jetpack), and enable the add/podcast-player-email-rendering branch.
• To test on Simple, run the following command on your sandbox:

bin/jetpack-downloader test jetpack add/podcast-player-email-rendering

Interested in more tips and information?

• In your local development environment, use the jetpack rsync command to sync your changes to a WoA dev blog.
• Read more about our development workflow here: PCYsg-eg0-p2
• Figure out when your changes will be shipped to customers here: PCYsg-eg5-p2

[github-actions]

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  • Scheduled release: September 2, 2025
  • Code freeze: September 1, 2025

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[jp-launch-control]

Code Coverage Summary

Coverage changed in 1 file.

File	Coverage	Δ%	Δ Uncovered
projects/plugins/jetpack/extensions/blocks/podcast-player/podcast-player.php	56/191 (29.32%)	29.32%	5 💔

Full summary · PHP report · JS report

_{Coverage check overridden by I don't care about code coverage for this PR Use this label to ignore the check for insufficient code coveage. .}

[yuliyan]

Although placing block elements inside an anchor is valid HTML, I've read that Outlook may sometimes render them incorrectly, flattening the structure and making the links unclickable. I don’t currently have a way to test this in Outlook to confirm whether that's truly the case, but might be safer to avoid it just in case.

On a separate note, I noticed that both visually and structurally, this button appears quite similar to the buttons used in the social icons core block - particularly the pill-shaped style that includes both an icon and text.

Do you think we could take a similar approach to render this block as well?

[allilevine]

I don’t currently have a way to test this in Outlook to confirm whether that's truly the case, but might be safer to avoid it just in case.

Good to know, thanks!

Do you think we could take a similar approach to render this block as well?

I'll take a look 👍

[allilevine]

Do you think we could take a similar approach to render this block as well?

That looks like the table format I was attempting, but the parts of the button that aren't the icon or text aren't linked. 🤔 Maybe that's a more acceptable tradeoff if the padding is smaller. I'll play around with it.

[allilevine]

I changed to the pill-shaped table with some padding in the links. It's a compromise:

Gmail	Outlook 2021