Howto speedup IE6 page/table rendering?

Question

Edit: My problem is fixed thanks to @Grumpy - still, if you have general advices regarding to IE6 - feel free to answer.

Hi there,

I have a customer still using IE6 (I tried to let them upgrade, but it is slowly going on because of the large user base).

On one page there are is a table containing prices (11 columns with 24 rows per entry). Each cell has either an input or select element in it. When only one entry is shown, this table renders very fast, but as soon as there are more, it takes much longer (e.g. 6 entries take >30 seconds).

I know its the table, because all elements above are directly visible. I tried to optimize the table by giving the table and each cell a fixed size and setting the table-layout:fixed-style. I also tried giving each entry its own table, but neither seem to help.

Any tips, links or any ideas how to improve the page speed are appreciated, thanks. If you need more infos, please ask in the comments.

Answer 1

One of the things that you will do best to avoid is nesting.

If your table is defined within several layers of divs, tables, etc then the IE6 rendering engine may slow considerably. I'd try putting your table on a page by itself and see if there is a big decrease in the render time.