What Is Lorem Ipsum and Why Do Designers Use It?

If you have seen a website template or a magazine layout before the real content was added, you have probably seen “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet…”. This placeholder text has been used by printers and designers for a very long time.

Where does lorem ipsum come from?

Lorem ipsum is scrambled Latin based on a work by the Roman philosopher Cicero, written in 45 BC. The words are altered so the text looks like natural language but does not carry meaning.

Why use placeholder text?

• Focus on design: readers judge layout, fonts and spacing instead of reading the words.
• Realistic shape: it has a natural mix of short and long words, unlike “text text text”.
• Speed: designers can build pages before the copy is written.

How to generate lorem ipsum

1. Open the Lorem Ipsum Generator.
2. Choose how many paragraphs you need.
3. Copy the text into your design or document.

Try it now: Lorem Ipsum Generator is free, works in your browser and needs no signup.

Best practices

• Never publish it: search engines and visitors see placeholder text as an unfinished site. Search your site for “lorem” before launch.
• Match the real length: if the final text will be one sentence, do not design with three paragraphs.
• Use real headings when possible: they affect layout more than body text.

Need to check the length of your real copy later? Use the Word Counter.

Try it now: Lorem Ipsum Generator is free, works in your browser and needs no signup.