class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/loremipsum.jpg" alt="lorem ipsum" />If you have ever searched for a
class="vt-p" href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/wordpress">WordPress theme before, you will have probably noticed that some theme designers use some weird text when showing off their themes which looks like Latin. I have always wondered what it was, why designers choose to use it and where it came from.
After a bit of research I have some answers.
id="more-52333">
What Is Lorem Ipsum?
Lorem Ipsum is a group of text that people commonly use as filler text, or dummy text. It’s basically a bunch of mumbo-jumbo (at least that’s what it looks like) that people use to show what a design layout will look like when the proper text has been inserted.
style="text-align: center;">
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/loremipsum_exampletext.png" alt="what is lorem ipsum" width="397" height="258" />
Why Do Designers Use Lorem Ipsum?
What I kept asking myself is why they would use this jumbled up mess of a foreign language and not some English text? It all comes down to focus. It’s a known fact that if they were to use actual copy, someone trying to look at only the design would be distracted by what the text says. That is one of the major reasons people choose to use Lorem Ipsum. With text that is unrecognizable, there’s nothing to read.
Where Did Lorem Ipsum Come From?
As it turns out, Lorem Ipsum did come from Latin. It’s actually a modified version of it. What does it actually say? According to
class="vt-p" href="http://www.lipsum.com/">Lipsum.com,
Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC.
Lorem Ipsum has been used since the 1500’s. It was made popular in the 1960’s and has survived into the digital age with desktop publishing programs like Aldus PageMaker. As we also know, it is still being widely used among web designers such as WordPress theme designers to show different design elements.
style="text-align: center;">
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/loremipsum_wordpressutilization.png" alt="what is lorem ipsum" width="368" height="286" />
Can I Use Lorem Ipsum For My Projects?
Sure, why not? It is still widely used so join the proverbial club. In fact there are many tools out there that make using it so easy. Here are a few of them.
class="vt-p" href="http://www.lipsum.com/">Lipsum.com
I have already quoted from this site because it contains quite a bit of information on the subject. It also contains a tool to generate a portion of the text.
style="text-align: center;">
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/loremipsum_lipsumtool.png" alt="lorem ipsum generator" width="435" height="246" />
MakeUseOf’s
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/">Directory contains a
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/lipsum-lorem-ipsum-dummy-content/">writeup about it. Since that time they have released both a
class="vt-p" href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2064/">Firefox plugin and a
class="vt-p" href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2064/">Chrome plugin.
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/lorem2-lorem-ipsum-sample-text-demos/">Lorem2: “Lorem Ipsum” Text Samples
This isn’t really a software program or tool per se. It’s really a website containing different sample Lorem Ipsum texts. It contains short paragraphs, long paragraphs, short list items and long list items. Web designers should add this site to their tool belt.
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/html-ipsum-lorem-ipsum-text-sample/">HTML-Ipsum
This tool takes Lorem Ipsum usage to a whole different level for web developers.
style="text-align: center;">
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/loremipsum_htmlipsum.png" alt="lorem ipsum generator" width="400" height="377" />
They offer much of what the last tools offers but with the HTML tags included, making development that much easier.
Tell us, do you use Lorem Ipsum? If so, in what way? What tools do you use that we should know about?
/>
/>Follow
href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
/>
/>
href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lorem-ipsum-case-wondering/">
src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lorem-ipsum-case-wondering/">
href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lorem-ipsum-case-wondering/">
src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png">
href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lorem-ipsum-case-wondering/">
src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg">
href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lorem-ipsum-case-wondering/&title=What Is Lorem Ipsum & Where Did It Come From? [In Case You Were Wondering]&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com">
src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png">
href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lorem-ipsum-case-wondering/">
src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">
Similar MakeUseOf Articles
class="st-related-posts">
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/identify-that-language-with-polyglot-3000/" title="Identify Language of Text with Polyglot 3000">Identify Language of Text with Polyglot 3000 (18 comments)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/learn-principles-design-preinstalled-templates/" title="How To Learn Principles of Design From Pre-Installed Templates">How To Learn Principles of Design From Pre-Installed Templates (4 comments)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/use-vocabgrabber-to-be-a-better-writer/" title="How To Become a Better Writer with VocabGrabber">How To Become a Better Writer with VocabGrabber (5 comments)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-quickly-clean-web-text-cleanhaven-crossplatform/" title="Easily & Quickly Clean Up Web Text With CleanHaven [Cross-Platform]">Easily & Quickly Clean Up Web Text With CleanHaven [Cross-Platform] (1 comments)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-top-5-best-online-sources-for-fonts/" title="5 Excellent Sources To Download Free Text Fonts">5 Excellent Sources To Download Free Text Fonts (23 comments)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/write-develop-html-offline-with-first-page/" title="Write & Develop HTML Offline with First Page">Write & Develop HTML Offline with First Page (12 comments)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/favourite-text-editor-makeuseof-poll/" title="What’s Your Favourite Text Editor? [MakeUseOf Poll]">What’s Your Favourite Text Editor? [MakeUseOf Poll] (96 comments)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/a-web-developer-toolbar-guide/" title="Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox">Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox (6 comments)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-sites-to-recharge-your-creative-mind/" title="WEB DESIGN: 5 Sites To Get Inspiration and Ideas">WEB DESIGN: 5 Sites To Get Inspiration and Ideas (10 comments)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/use-a-definition-to-find-the-word-with-onelook%e2%80%99s-reverse-dictionary/" title="Use A Definition To Find The Word With OneLook’s Reverse Dictionary">Use A Definition To Find The Word With OneLook’s Reverse Dictionary (8 comments)
View full post on MakeUseOf.com
[...] What Is Lorem Ipsum & Where Did It Come From? [In Case You Were Wondering] (1 comments) [...]
My old planners from my high school days had that text in small print on these pictures of papers on the front cover, always wondered where they came from.