100% width tables don't work in Gmail Android

Question

I'm trying to build a responsive email – it's actually working pretty great across the board, except for some small pieces that aren't co-operating in Gmail for Android.

I have these seriously simple black stripes that sit at the top of the email as a decorative element:

<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center" valign="top">
    <tr><td width="100%" height="11" bgcolor="#000000"></td></tr>
    <tr><td width="100%" height="2" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"></td></tr>
    <tr><td width="100%" height="1" bgcolor="#000000"></td></tr>
    <tr><td width="100%" height="30" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"></td></tr>
</table>

Yet they don't display as anything more than a tiny strip of black and white that resembles an ultra-thin exclamation point on the Gmail Android app.

Likewise, there is a footer that isn't spanning the full width of the email:

<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center" bgcolor="#000000">
    <tr>
        <td>

        <table width="650" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center" bgcolor="#000000">
            <tr>
                <td align="right" class="footer">
                    <img src="images/footer.png" />
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>

        </td>
    </tr>
</table>

Any suggestions on how to make these span the full width of the email?

Answer 1

If you haven't found a solution try

style="width:100%!important" like

 <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center" bgcolor="#000000" style="width:100%!important">

Gmail likes to strip most of the CSS, but if you add a label !important will keep them most of the time.

Answer 2

So remind Gmail that 100% means 100% by adding min-width:100% to our <table>.

source

Answer 3

After extensive testing the solution as follows will work for any vertical spacing issues across all email clients (available on Litmus), incl. Gmail App on Andriod.

<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="width:100% !important;">
    <tr>
        <td bgcolor="#00a0cc" height="25" style="background:#00a0cc;height:25px;line-height:0;font-size:0;">&nbsp;<br /></td>
    </tr>
</table>

Key point is to apply width:100% !important to the table, will not work on applying to the td. This is also the best solution for replacing vertical spacer images.