Symptoms

Editing a page in Confluence takes 3-5 seconds in Internet Explorer. While the page is loading, the editor (rich text or wiki markup) is displayed far down the screen, as in this sample screen shot of Internet Explorer 6:

Causes and Resolutions

1. There is a known problem with the Atlassian UI plugin bundled with Confluence 3.0 that causes the loading of several transparent PNG images to fail. See AJS-121. Upgrade Confluence to 3.1 or later.
2. IE 6 performs poorly. Upgrade to Internet Explorer to IE7 or later.
3. Disable HTTPWatch if it's running.