A way to center TD in TR? - html

Question

I am working on HTML email and trying to center a green TD in a white TR so that there's a 20px white margin on the left and right of the green box.
I tried setting TD width for the green portion and setting margin 0 auto but the green just expands to the width of the TR.
Tried putting in 2 more TDs to push the green TD into the center and that didn't work either.
Including the code snippet, am having trouble with the TR that has #a6d971.
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="600" height="" bgcolor="" style="margin: 0 auto;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="margin: 0 auto;">
<img width="600" height="23" padding="0" src="assets/graphic_scalloped_top.png" alt="" style="display: block;" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#fff" height="75">
<td valign="top" style="text-align:center;">
<p style="margin:0; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-top: 3px; color:#545d69; font-size: 24px; text-align:center; font-family: Arial, Helvetica;">
Regular sales happen every day
</p>
<p style="margin:0; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-top: 3px; color:#4bc1d6; font-size: 16px; text-align:center; font-family: Arial, Helvetica;">
9am - 11pm
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#fff" height="75" padding="10">
<td bgcolor="#000" width="20"></td>
<td bgcolor="#a6d971" width="300" style="margin: 10;">
</td>
<td bgcolor="#000" width="20"></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#fff">
<td valign="top">
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" border="0" align="center" width="100%" bgcolor="#fff" style="">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td height="80" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; color: #555; background:url('assets/graphic_9am.png') no-repeat; background-position: 10% center; padding:10px; margin:0;">
<h3>Nine # Nine</h3>
<p>Fuel up! Dresses, tunics and other items including:</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="margin: 0 auto;">
<img width="600" height="23" padding="0" src="assets/graphic_scalloped_bottom.png" alt="" style="display: block;" />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Answer 1

Switch to DIV's and CSS, most emails client supports styles pretty well, you can use a DIV inside your TD element, it'll be easy to center or do other things you might want.
For Example
<tr style="background-color: white;">
<td style="background-color: green;">
<div style="background-color: purple; margin-right: 20px; margin-left: 20px;">Content Here</div>
</td>
</tr>
Also note if you use DIV's you can also avoid tables.

Answer 2

Hack on top of a hack.
<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border-left: 20px solid white; border-right: 20px solid white; background: green; color: white; text-align: center;">
This is stuff.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
http://jsfiddle.net/zy6GU/
Incidentally, the same thing should work with a DIV:
<div style="border-left: 20px solid white; border-right: 20px solid white; background: green; color: white; text-align: center;">This is a DIV.</div>
http://jsfiddle.net/zy6GU/1/

Answer 3

If you HAVE to use tables, might as well abuse them a little:
<table><tr align="center">
<td width="50%">one</td>
<td style="background-color:green">two</td>
<td width="50%">three</td>
</tr></table>
http://jsfiddle.net/mblase75/yntfu/

Answer 4

I'm not a CSS expert but this works for me (with no extra tags) :
<table>
<tr style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid black;">
<td style="background-color: green; display: block; margin: 0 20px;">
<!-- Content -->
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Answer 5

What are you talking about 'for emails'? You mean an email address, like Email Me? If so you'd want some css that centers the link in the TD, or in combination with colspan on the TD.