Javascript performance in Sharepoint with IE7

Question

I am using Javascript to display an 8*8 grid in a Sharepoint page. The code basically fetches the data from an array, creates a table with the data and adds it to the page when it first loads. It also adds onmouseout and onmouseover attributes to each cell of the table, which call 2 different Javascript functions:

1. to add a description to a div underneath the table
2. to remove the description

This Javascript performs fast on a simple HTML page and it works great in all browsers. Then I try to test it to our Sharepoint site and notice the following:

1. On our reference environment the Javascript performs as expected: fast (even in IE7)
2. On our production environment the Javascript is extremely sluggish on IE7 (not the MF3 or IE8). However, other parts of the page are slow too! If I hover on top of a link in takes some noticeable time before it is underlined. I removed the Javascript, and the results were almost similar.

What I do not understand, is whether the major problem is the Javascript itself OR our Sharepoint implementation (since we have different performance results in the two environments)?

I use some jQuery methods for simplicity:

//$str = the string that contains the HTML code for the table
function printTable(){
    $("#whoswhotab").append($str);
}

function HideContent(d) {
    $(d).empty();
}

function ShowContent(d) {
    //fetch data from array and then append
    $(d).append();
}

Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

What is the value of $str on the different servers?

If it's big it can explain the sluggishness - rendering lots of HTML take lots of time.