Lorem Ipsum Generator
Create placeholder text for design and development prototyping.
Lorem Ipsum is the most widely used placeholder text in the design and publishing industry. But far from being a random collection of Latin words, it has a rich history that stretches back over two millennia — and a very practical purpose in modern web development.
The Origin of Lorem Ipsum The text originates from a work by the Roman philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero, written in 45 BC. The original piece, titled "De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" ("On the Ends of Good and Evil"), is a treatise on ethics and moral philosophy.
The passage commonly used as Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of this work. Over the centuries, the text was altered — words were removed, added, or scrambled — to create a block of text that looks like natural language but carries no meaningful content.
Why Do Designers Use Lorem Ipsum? Placeholder text serves a critical role in the design process:
- Focus on layout: By using nonsensical text, designers and clients can evaluate the visual structure of a page without being distracted by readable content.
- Realistic spacing: Unlike "test test test" or blank space, Lorem Ipsum mimics the word-length distribution of natural language, providing a realistic simulation of how final content will look.
- Industry standard: Since the 1960s — when it was first used in Letraset transfer sheets — Lorem Ipsum has been the default placeholder for print and digital media.
How Lorem Ipsum Generators Work A typical Lorem Ipsum generator works by:
- Drawing from a word bank based on Cicero's original text
- Randomly assembling sentences and paragraphs
- Optionally starting with the classic "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..." opening
- Allowing control over output length — by paragraphs, words, bytes, or HTML lists
Modern generators can produce text in various formats suitable for direct use in HTML, Markdown, or plain text documents.
Best Practices for Placeholder Text
- Always replace Lorem Ipsum with real content before publishing
- Use it only during the prototyping and wireframing stages
- Consider using localized placeholder text when designing for specific languages
- For accessibility testing, real text is always preferred over Lorem Ipsum
Fun Facts
- The standard Lorem Ipsum passage has been used since the 1500s, making it over 500 years old as a typesetting tool.
- There are many humorous variations, including "Bacon Ipsum", "Cupcake Ipsum", and "Cat Ipsum".
- Despite looking like Latin, the scrambled text is not grammatically correct — a deliberate design choice.