Lorem ipsum is a pseudo-Latin text used in web design, typography, layout, and printing in

place of English to emphasise design elements over content. It's also called placeholder (or filler)
text. It's a convenient tool for mock-ups. It helps to outline the visual elements of a document
or presentation, eg typography, font, or layout. Lorem ipsum is mostly a part of a Latin text by
the classical author and philosopher Cicero. Its words and letters have been changed by addition
or removal, so to deliberately render its content nonsensical; it's not genuine, correct, or
comprehensible Latin anymore. While lorem ipsum's still resembles classical Latin, it actually
has no meaning whatsoever. As Cicero's text doesn't contain the letters K, W, or Z, alien to
latin, these, and others are often inserted randomly to mimic the typographic appearence of
European languages, as are digraphs not to be found in the original.

In a professional context it often happens that private or corporate clients corder a publication to
be made and presented with the actual content still not being ready. Think of a news blog that's
filled with content hourly on the day of going live. However, reviewers tend to be distracted by
comprehensible content, say, a random text copied from a newspaper or the internet. The are
likely to focus on the text, disregarding the layout and its elements. Besides, random text risks
to be unintendedly humorous or offensive, an unacceptable risk in corporate
environments. Lorem ipsum and its many variants have been employed since the early
1960ies, and quite likely since the sixteenth century.

Lorem Ipsum: common examples

Most of its text is made up from sections 1.10.32–3 of Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum
(On the Boundaries of Goods and Evils; finibus may also be translated as purposes). Neque
porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit is
the first known version ("Neither is there anyone who loves grief itself since it is grief and thus
wants to obtain it"). It was found by Richard McClintock, a philologist, director of publications at
Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia; he searched for citings of consectetur in classical Latin
literature, a term of remarkably low frequency in that literary corpus.

Cicero famously orated against his political opponent Lucius Sergius Catilina. Occasionally the
first Oration against Catiline is taken for type specimens: Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina,
patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? (How long, O Catiline, will you
abuse our patience? And for how long will that madness of yours mock us?)

Cicero's version of Liber Primus (first Book), sections 1.10.32–3 (fragments included in most
Lorem Ipsum variants in red):

Sed ut perspiciatis, unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque
laudantium, totam rem aperiam eaque ipsa, quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto
beatae vitae dicta sunt, explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem, quia voluptas sit, aspernatur
aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos, qui ratione voluptatem sequi
nesciunt, neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum, quia dolor sit amet, consectetur,
adipisci[ng] velit, sed quia non numquam [do] eius modi tempora inci[di]dunt, ut labore et
dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis
nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea
commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit, qui in ea voluptate velit esse,
quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum, qui dolorem eum fugiat, quo voluptas nulla
pariatur?

Lorem Ipsum: translation

The Latin scholar H. Rackham translated the above in 1914:

But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain
was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual
teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one
rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not
know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor
again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain,
butoccasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some
 great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical
exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a
man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a
pain that produces no resultant pleasure?

On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled
and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they
cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those
who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking
from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour,
when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what
we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain
circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently
occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore
always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other
greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

Lorem Ipsum: variants and technical information

In 1985 Aldus Corporation launched its first desktop publishing program Aldus PageMaker for
Apple Macintosh computers, released in 1987 for PCs running Windows 1.0. Both contained the
variant lorem ipsum most common today. Laura Perry, then art director with Aldus, modified
prior versions of Lorem Ipsum text from typographical specimens; in the 1960s and 1970s it
appeared often in lettering catalogs by Letraset. Anecdotal evidence has it that Letraset
used Lorem ipsum already from 1970 onwards, eg. for grids (page layouts) for ad agencies.
Many early desktop publishing programs, eg. Adobe PageMaker, used it to create template.

Most text editors like MS Word or Lotus Notes generate random lorem text when needed, either
as pre-installed module or plug-in to be added. Word selection or sequence don't necessarily
match the original, which is intended to add variety. Presentation software like Keynote or Pages
use it as a samples for screenplay layout. Content management software as Joomla, Drupal,
Mambo, PHP-Nuke, WordPress, or Movable Type offer Lorem Ipsumplug-ins with the same
functionality.

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Korean: 국민경제의 발전을 위한 중요정책의 수립에 관하여 대통령의 자문에 응하기 위하여 국민경제자문회
의를 둘 수 있다. Greek: Λορεμ ιπσθμ δολορ σιτ αμετ, μει ιδ νοvθμ φαβελλασ πετεντιθμ vελ νε, ατ
νισλ σονετ οπορτερε εθμ. Αλιι δοcτθσ μει ιδ, νο αθτεμ αθδιρε ιντερεσσετ μελ, δοcενδι cομμθνε
οπορτεατ τε cθμ. Japanese Lorem Ipsum: 旅ロ京青利セムレ弱改フヨス波府かばぼ意送でぼ調掲察た
ス日西重ケアナ住橋ユムミク順待ふかんぼ人奨貯鏡すびそ。

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Russian Lorem Ipsum: Лорем ипсум долор сит амет, пер цлита поссит ех, ат мунере
фабулас петентиум сит. Иус цу цибо саперет сцрипсерит, нец виси муциус лабитур ид. Ет
хис нонумес нолуиссе дигниссим. Chinese Lorem Ipsum: 側経意責家方家閉討店暖育田庁載社転線
宇。得君新術治温抗添代話考振投員殴大闘北裁。品間識部案代学凰処済準世一戸刻法分。悼測済諏計飯利安凶
断理資沢同岩面文認革。内警格化再薬方久化体教御決数詭芸得筆代。 Indian Lorem Ipsum: पढाए हिंदी
रहारुप अनव
ु ाद कार्यलय मख्
ु य संस्था सोफ़तवेर निरपेक्ष उनका आपके बाटते आशाआपस मख्
ु यतह उशकी करता। शरु
ु आत
संस्था कुशलता में भटृ अनुवाद गएआप विशेष सकते परिभाषित लाभान्वित प्रति दे कर समजते दिशामे प्राप्त जैसे वर्णन
संस्थान निर्माता प्रव्रुति भाति चुनने उपलब्ध बेंगलूर अर्थपुर्ण Armeninian Lorem Ipsum: լոռեմ իպսում
դոլոռ սիթ ամեթ, լաբոռե մոդեռաթիուս եթ հաս, պեռ ոմնիս լաթինե դիսպութաթիոնի աթ,
վիս ֆեուգաիթ ծիվիբուս եխ. վիվենդում լաբոռամուս ելաբոռառեթ նամ ին.

Arab Lorem Ipsum:  ,‫ مع وايرلندا األوروبيّون كان‬.‫ الثقيلة بال‬،‫ هو العالم‬,،‫ وباءت األمريكي األوربيين هو به‬.‫غينيا واستمر العصبة ضرب قد‬
‫ انه كل وإقامة المواد‬.‫قد بحق أسابيع العظمى واعتالء‬. Hebrew Lorem Ipsum:  ‫ דת דפים‬,‫כדי יסוד מונחים מועמדים של‬
‫ אל‬,‫ ויש בקלות ואמנות אירועים או‬.‫ או ניווט פולנית לחיבור ארץ‬,‫ גם אחר ליום בשפות‬,‫ אתה דת שונה כלשהו‬.‫מאמרשיחהצפה זאת‬
‫אינו כלכלה שתי‬.
Lorem Ipsum: when, and when not to use itDo you like Cheese Whiz? Spray tan? Fake eyelashes?
That's what is Lorem Ipsum to many—it rubs them the wrong way, all the way. It's unreal,
uncanny, makes you wonder if something is wrong, it seems to seek your attention for all the
wrong reasons. Usually, we prefer the real thing, wine without sulfur based preservatives, real
butter, not margarine, and so we'd like our layouts and designs to be filled with real words, with
thoughts that count, information that has value.

The toppings you may chose for that TV dinner pizza slice when you forgot to shop for foods, the
paint you may slap on your face to impress the new boss is your business. But what about your
daily bread? Design comps, layouts, wireframes—will your clients accept that you go about
things the facile way? Authorities in our business will tell in no uncertain terms that Lorem
Ipsum is that huge, huge no no to forswear forever. Not so fast, I'd say, there are some
redeeming factors in favor of greeking text, as its use is merely the symptom of a worse
problem to take into consideration.

You begin with a text, you sculpt information, you chisel away what's not needed, you come to
the point, make things clear, add value, you're a content person, you like words. Design is no
afterthought, far from it, but it comes in a deserved second. Anyway, you still use Lorem Ipsum
and rightly so, as it will always have a place in the web workers toolbox, as things happen, not
always the way you like it, not always in the preferred order. Even if your less into design and
more into content strategy you may find some redeeming value with, wait for it, dummy copy,
no less.

Consider this: You made all the required mock ups for commissioned layout, got all the
approvals, built a tested code base or had them built, you decided on a content management
system, got a license for it or adapted open source software for your client's needs. Then the
question arises: where's the content? Not there yet? That's not so bad, there's dummy copy to
the rescue. But worse, what if the fish doesn't fit in the can, the foot's to big for the boot? Or to
small? To short sentences, to many headings, images too large for the proposed design, or too
small, or they fit in but it looks iffy for reasons the folks in the meeting can't quite tell right now,
but they're unhappy, somehow. A client that's unhappy for a reason is a problem, a client that's
unhappy though he or her can't quite put a finger on it is worse.

But. A big but: Lorem Ipsum is not t the root of the problem, it just shows what's going wrong.
Chances are there wasn't collaboration, communication, and checkpoints, there wasn't a process
agreed upon or specified with the granularity required. It's content strategy gone awry right
from the start. Forswearing the use of Lorem Ipsum wouldn't have helped, won't help now. It's
like saying you're a bad designer, use less bold text, don't use italics in every other paragraph.
True enough, but that's not all that it takes to get things back on track.

So Lorem Ipsum is bad (not necessarily)

There's lot of hate out there for a text that amounts to little more than garbled words in an old
language. The villagers are out there with a vengeance to get that Frankenstein, wielding
torches and pitchforks, wanting to tar and feather it at the least, running it out of town in
shame.

One of the villagers, Kristina Halvorson from Adaptive Path, holds steadfastly to the notion that
design can’t be tested without real content:

I’ve heard the argument that “lorem ipsum” is effective in wireframing or design because it helps
people focus on the actual layout, or color scheme, or whatever. What kills me here is that we’re
talking about creating a user experience that will (whether we like it or not) be DRIVEN by words.
The entire structure of the page or app flow is FOR THE WORDS.

If that's what you think how bout the other way around? How can you evaluate content without
design? No typography, no colors, no layout, no styles, all those things that convey the
important signals that go beyond the mere textual, hierarchies of information, weight, emphasis,
oblique stresses, priorities, all those subtle cues that also have visual and emotional appeal to
the reader. Rigid proponents of content strategy may shun the use of dummy copy but then
 designers might want to ask them to provide style sheets with the copy decks they supply that
are in tune with the design direction they require.

Or else, an alternative route: set checkpoints, networks, processes, junctions between content
and layout. Depending on the state of affairs it may be fine to concentrate either on design or
content, reversing gears when needed.

Or maybe not. How about this: build in appropriate intersections and checkpoints between
design and content. Accept that it’s sometimes okay to focus just on the content or just on the
design.

Luke Wroblewski, currently a Product Director at Google, holds that fake data can break down in
real life:

Using dummy content or fake information in the Web design process can result in products with
unrealistic assumptions and potentially serious design flaws. A seemingly elegant design can
quickly begin to bloat with unexpected content or break under the weight of actual activity. Fake
data can ensure a nice looking layout but it doesn’t reflect what a living, breathing application must
endure. Real data does.

Websites in professional use templating systems. Commercial publishing platforms and content
management systems ensure that you can show different text, different data using the same
template. When it's about controlling hundreds of articles, product pages for web shops, or user
profiles in social networks, all of them potentially with different sizes, formats, rules for differing
elements things can break, designs agreed upon can have unintended consequences and look
much different than expected.

This is quite a problem to solve, but just doing without greeking text won't fix it. Using test
items of real content and data in designs will help, but there's no guarantee that every oddity
will be found and corrected. Do you want to be sure? Then a prototype or beta site with real
content published from the real CMS is needed—but you’re not going that far until you go
through an initial design cycle.

Lorem Ipsum actually is usefull in the design stage as it focuses our attention on places where
the content is a dynamic block coming from the CMS (unlike static content elements that will
always stay the same.) Blocks of Lorem Ipsum with a character count range provide a obvious
reminder to check and re-check that the design and the content model match up.

Kyle Fiedler from the Design Informer feels that distracting copy is your fault:

If the copy becomes distracting in the design then you are doing something wrong or they are
discussing copy changes. It might be a bit annoying but you could tell them that that discussion
would be best suited for another time. At worst the discussion is at least working towards the final
goal of your site where questions about lorem ipsum don’t.

Summing up, if the copy is diverting attention from the design it’s because it’s not up
to task.

Typographers of yore didn't come up with the concept of dummy copy because people thought
that content is inconsequential window dressing, only there to be used by designers who can’t
be bothered to read. Lorem Ipsum is needed because words matter, a lot. Just fill up a page
with draft copy about the client’s business and they will actually read it and comment on it. They
will be drawn to it, fiercely. Do it the wrong way and draft copy can derail your design review.

Asking the client to pay no attention Lorem Ipsum isn't hard as it doesn’t make sense in the first
place, that will limit any initial interest soon enough. Try telling a client to ignore draft copy
however, and you're up to something you can't win. Whenever draft copy comes up in a meeting
confused questions about it ensue.

Summing up, really:

Lorem Ipsum is a tool that can be useful, used intentionally it may help solve some problems. If
you go about content strategy the wrong way, fix that problem.