title: Do I need to use spacer images when coding HTML emails?
body: <p>I understand that HTML emails need to use really old school layouts - as per lots of other answers on SO (e.g. <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2935472/html-email-tables-or-divs">HTML email: tables or divs?</a>, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1189976/html-email-using-css">HTML Email using CSS</a>).</p>
  
  <p>However, there seems to be some debate over whether it's still a good idea to use spacer gifs in email.</p>
  
  <p>For example, compare these three layouts:</p>
  
  <p>DIMENSIONS:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100"&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td width="100" height="10"&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/table&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>WITH SPACER GIF:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;img src="spacer.gif" width="100" height="10"&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/table&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>WITH SPACER GIF AND DIMENSIONS:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100"&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td width="100" height="10"&gt;&lt;img src="spacer.gif" width="100" height="10"&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/table&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How do I use them with dimensions? Are there any email clients that still require spacer gifs? Is there any harm done either way? </p>