So, you have a website designed for your client and no content to pad it out…
Q. What do you do?
A. You fill it with dummy text.
The usual “filler” for new pages is the traditional typesetters’ Lorem Ipsum dummy text, popular with traditional print designers. Using Lorem Ipsum has been a thing since the 16th century, so there’s a lot of cool heritage to using it to pad out wireframes. mock-ups, and early designs.
But why Lorem Ipsum?
When you design and show your page layout to a client, it’s a classic case that readers get distracted by meaningful text that they can actually read. Lorem Ipsum is useful because its letter patterns roughly mirror those of standard English, unlike placeholder text that just repeats phrases like “Content here.” Also, using Lorem Ipsum makes it appear more natural than obvious filler text. Today, Lorem Ipsum comes pre-loaded as the default text in numerous publishing software programs and web editors.
And if you search online for “lorem ipsum” you might even find some unfinished websites using this placeholder text.
The text has undergone various changes throughout its history, with some variations occurring unintentionally and others being deliberately introduced, such as adding humorous elements like the Samuel L Jackson Slipsum (Warning: NSFW!)
What Does Lorem Ipsum Mean?
Many people think that Lorem Ipsum is just random text, but that’s not the case. The origins of Lorem Ipsum date back to ancient Roman literature written in 45 BC. While researching the Latin word “consectetur” found in Lorem Ipsum text, a tutor of Latin, Richard McClintock, traced its lineage to an unquestionable source: Cicero’s philosophical work “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” (On the Extremes of Good and Evil). This ethical treatise gained significant popularity during the Renaissance period and the opening words of Lorem Ipsum – “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet” – are derived directly from section 1.10.32 of Cicero’s text.
Where Can I Get Some Lorem Ipsum?
Some bright spark has designed a website solely for the purpose of creating swathes of Lorem Ipsum dolor sit amet text.
You can find out some more historical facts such as further references to Cicero’s work, and generate handy paragraphs, words and lists, donate to their cause and purchase Lorem Ipsum merchandise.
So go generate your dummy text at the Lipsum website
