Lorem Ipsum is dummy text used by designers and developers as placeholder content when the real text is not yet available. It has been the standard placeholder text in the printing and typesetting industry since the 1500s.
Why Lorem Ipsum?
Using actual words (like "text here text here") in a design creates a cognitive distraction — viewers focus on the words instead of the layout. Lorem Ipsum is derived from Latin, so it looks like real language at a glance but carries no meaning to most readers, keeping the focus on the visual design.
The standard opening is:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
This comes from a passage in Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (45 BC), deliberately scrambled to be unreadable.
When to use Lorem Ipsum
- UI/UX design mockups — testing layouts before copywriting is complete
- Frontend development — filling in components and templates with realistic-looking text
- Print design — magazine layouts, brochures, business cards
- Email templates — testing how long copy wraps across different email clients
- Database seeding — generating test content with realistic lengths
How to generate Lorem Ipsum online
- Go to Lorem Ipsum Generator
- Choose output type: paragraphs, sentences, or words
- Set the count (e.g., 3 paragraphs, 10 sentences)
- Click Generate or adjust the counter — output updates instantly
- Click Copy to copy to clipboard
Alternatives to Lorem Ipsum
Some projects prefer more contextual placeholder text:
- Hipster Ipsum — uses modern slang and startup jargon
- Bacon Ipsum — food-themed placeholder
- Corporate Lorem — business jargon filler
- Actual short text — sometimes "The quick brown fox" is clearer for developers
For most design and development use cases, standard Lorem Ipsum remains the clearest signal that content is placeholder.
HTML Lorem Ipsum
If you need Lorem Ipsum inside HTML tags for template development:
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</p>
<p>Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.</p>
Most code editors offer a shortcut: in VS Code, type lorem and press Tab to insert a Lorem Ipsum paragraph automatically.