Lorem Ipsum: What is it?

I work on a lot of front end development projects here at Blueprint. Usually when I am working on a project I need to create pages, but I don’t want to create blank pages with no content. The solution is to use lorem ipsum.

What is lorem ipsum?

Lorem ipsum is a placeholder text. It is also called filler text or dummy text. Many people find it difficult to focus on the design and layout when there is readable content. At first glance, lorem ipsum could look like a normal English content, but at close inspection the text doesn’t have any meaning. Because of this, lorem ipsum is used in many situations. It can be used by graphic designers creating a website mockup, and it can be used by developers creating pages to show different page designs and functionalities.

The original lorem ipsum text that usually starts “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet…” was actually derived from an ancient Latin text by Cicero, who wrote great Latin proses during his time. Although lorem ipsum has its origins in Latin, the actual lorem ipsum text is jumbled and makes no sense even in Latin.

Lorem ipsum resources

Lipsum Generator is a good place to get lorem ipsum text. This website will generate a standard lorem ipsum text. I use this the most for projects I do at Blueprint.

As a cat lover, I cannot neglect to mention Kitty Ipsum and Cat Ipsum. Both are great resources for cat-loving developers like myself.

There is also a Hipster Ipsum for those hipsters out there that contain words like “gluten free,” “American Apparel,” and “single-origin coffee.”

There are plenty more when you do a Google search. Whichever service you choose, placeholder texts, along with placeholder images, are really useful in design and development.