Have you ever seen the term Lorem Ipsum on a new website? Perhaps you have even tried entering it on Google Translate, but no sensible results came through. Most people who see it the first time think they are in the wrong address only to refresh and come back to the same page. But, what is this mysterious text that you see on pages?
What is Lorem Ipsum?
Simply put, loremipsum is dummy text that occupies the space where the real content should be. If you are designing an online business such as a blog and you do not have content already, you use a lorem ipsum generator to create placeholder or dummy text to show you how the business will look once you add the real content.
Lorem ipsum is common with typesetting and printing businesses. The text did not start with the age of digital businesses as it has been used since 1500s or even earlier. The first use must have been in the creation of a specimen book. The creators wanted to know how the book will look with text on and that was when lorem ipsum started finding its place in the printing, typesetting, and digital world.
The text has not changed much since the 1500s. It has held on to its place through the typewriter period and is now used on digital work. The release of Letraset sheets that contained lorem ipsum was the start of the popularity of lorem ipsum. Today, a lorem ipsum generator has made it easier to generate the text with much ease.
Why Would You Need Lorem Ipsum?
Loremipsum comes in handy when you need to showcase the design of a page before adding content. When you add readable content, the reader is distracted from the design of the pages and they concentrate on the content. With lorem ipsum, the reader can see a normal distribution of letters, allowing them to enjoy the design of the pages. Without lorem ipsum, the designer would use terms such “Content Here” or add the real content, and that would distract the reader from the design.
Today, desktop publishing packages make use of lorem ipsum in their design template. Again, if you search “lorem ipsum,” you might come across so many websites still in their initial stages, which are yet to add the real content they need for their websites.
Over the years, different versions of the lorem ipsum have come up. Some texts are available by accident while others add humor to the text. Either way, the lorem ipsum meaning of the text is still vague as the text doesn’t make any sense.
Lorem Ipsum through The Years
When you see lorem ipsum for the first time, you might be tempted to translate it to see what it means. The lorem ipsum meaning will frustrate you because there is nothing in the text, but gibberish. There is no real sense in the text, but a mix of different words that are not even related.
Lorem is a word that is not even a real Latin word. It comes from the word dolorem, which translates to pain and suffering. Luckily, you do not need to know the meaning of lorem ipsum to use it in your work. Where did this blend of unrelated words come from?
Humble Beginnings
Cicero is the name that comes up most when you search the origins of lorem ipsum. He was a Roman lawyer and statesman cum philosopher. It first appeared in an essay titled “On the Extremes of Good and Evil.” In Latin, the essay was named “De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum.”
Cicero was one of the most popular writers of his time. For a long time in his writing career, he wrote so many publications that his work was the benchmark for so many other pieces of work. His work was the benchmark for prose writing in Latin. Latin was also a popular European language during the middle ages. The passage that later read to the generation of lorem ipsum spoke about pain. Loosely, the text translates to “nobody pursues pain as pain, but there are circumstances in which the pain that comes with toiling bears pleasure for the one who toils.”
Lorem ipsum meaning, therefore, is “pain in and of itself.” There is no point trying to understand the verbose and sophisticated work of Cicero. Instead, focus on understanding the history and the importance of lorem ipsum.
Cicero was a master writer and artist. How he came to design a text that no one recognizes or comprehends is a mystery. Lorem ipsum came before the age of online content. Today, however, it is used more as dummy text for online content. The text was first used in the sixteenth century. One type setter wanted to create a specimen book and thought it wise to create text that was not readable. The specimen book was to show the look of different fonts on pages. To bring out the style as intended, the typesetter added insensible text on the pages. This way, when the users held the specimen, they concentrated on the story more and not the words.
From the look of the words, the typesetter might have snatched a page from Cicero’s passage and mixed the words in no specific order. The text has survived more than four centuries, and it continues with so much importance to the printing world. Even when electronic typesetting came to be, the text remained unchanged.
You can follow lorem ipsum history for a long time and the story is as fascinating as it is weird. It is a text that appeared as of the need to make design more visible than content. From there, it become the standard and hasn’t changed much since. You will see texts such as lorem ipsum dolor sit amet or lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer adipiscing elit and nothing will even make sense.
Should you still use ipsum lorem on your work? Has the text served its purpose, and should it now rest? There are people who feel that the text should not be in use anymore while others feel it should still be used. In the age of digital publishing, the text has become more useful as more people want to see the design of their pages.
There are some other tools that have come up to generate incoherent texts in English. The text looks like real passages, but is distracts those who view the text. If you use the English text in your design work, it will look more like the final product that you need. However, people will try reading the English text and this may take them away from the real reason they are looking at the work, the design. To this end, ipsum lorem still holds.
Lorem ispsum generator, therefore, comes in to help you get your design on for people to see. No one tries reading the text as they only check the design of the work.
Ipsum Lorem in Pagemaker and Afterwards
The use of lorem ipsum started well in the 1980s. Aldus Pagemaker (now known as Adobe Pagemaker) started using lorem ipsum and other desktop publishing programs followed suit. Some of these programs still use lorem ipsum generator, but others have turned into real English text. The use of ipsum lorem is now more in new websites that need to have dummy content before creating the real content for their pages. There are so many industries that use loremipsum today.
From the look of things, the text will be here for many more years to come.
How Do You Get Lorem Ipsum on Your Text?
It is easy to get lorem ipsum on your pages. Today, a lorem ipsum generator is the easiest way to get the text on your website or an application, but there are other ways.
Copying and Pasting the Text
The text doesn’t make any sense and whatever you copy works. If you search for the text online today, you will have so many examples of it to copy to your pages for publication. It behaves like any other normal text. You can alter the font and the size of the text to get the graphical look you need.
Stylized text is more common on most websites looking to try out different designs. The problem with copying and pasting is that you may not have the styles you need for text. You might have to format the text after adding it to the text box.
HTML
If you are coding the pages of your website, you can add the text on the HTML code and it will appear in the user interface as plain or stylized text, depending on how you style it. While using HTML, you can bold the words, set the headings and the titles, change colors, and style it just as you would on Microsoft Word.
Use Lorem Ispum Tools
Although these tools are not as easy to use as a lorem ipsum generator, they still make the process a little easier than copy-pasting and HTML. Microsoft Word is one of the tools that can help you generate ipsum lorem. If you are using Word 2007 or later, all you need to do is insert =lorem() as a paragraph and you will have added loremipsum to your work. Google Docs is another lorem ipsum generator that offers lorem ipsum texts through Google Chrome.
There are so many other ways to add lorem ipsujm text on a page, depending on the application you are using. Content management systems and web page templates use plugins and tools that help you generate lorem ipsum with ease. However, not all systems allow the generation of the text through plugins and other tools. As a designer or developer, you choose the method that best suits your needs and the platform you are using to design.
Lorem Ipsum Generator
The easiest way to add the Latin text to your site is through a Lorem ipsum generator. With a generator, all you need to do is click “Generate” and do a few more settings and you have the text you need. Your text doesn’t have to start with lorem ipsum dolor sit amet or lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer adipiscing elit as you can change that to any other text that you need. Generators allow you to format your text just the way you need, including the colors, fonts and font sizes, and so much more. This is the easiest way to generate loremipsum without dealing with HTML or having to copy paste every bit.
When to Use Lorem Ipsum and When to Avoid It?
Do you like fake things, say fake eyelashes? It may not rub you the right way. It doesn’t rub everyone the same way. As a designer or developer, you have to know when and how to use lorem ipsum. Sometimes, and to some people, the unrealistic nature of loremipsum makes it appear as if something is wrong. However, using the real words may not work where you need to bring out the beauty of the design while ensuring that the users do not read the text.
When your main focus is on the design, you will barely notice the text on the pages. However, if the text on the pages is more conspicuous than the design, you might end up reading the text and not checking out the design.
If you have ready content, you do not need to use lorem ipsum on your website. You can just upload or publish the content you already have, and that allows you to check the design and the content at the same time. Some designers believe that the only way to test a design is to have real content on the pages. According to the proponents of this theory, the overall design of the pages will be driven by words once the pages are complete. It would, therefore, not make sense to test a design with insensible text. Lorem ipsum doesn’t show user experience even when it shows the design. The flow of the words also matter when you need to check the overall design of the text.
There is no way to evaluate design without works, and no way to evaluate how your content looks without design. These two have to go hand in hand. The typography and the colors, layouts, and styles give you everything you need to assess the look of the content and the design. The visual and emotional appeal that comes with using real content is great, but the distraction is what makes real text not ideal for testing designs.
You can use lorem ipsum whenever you do not have the content you need, yet you still need to see how a design looks with text on it. Even though some designers prefer to use real text, lorem ipsum works the same as real text with the same flow and some formatting as real text. This way, when used well, there is no difference between the real text and lorem ipsum when it comes to testing the design of a website.
What Other Dummy Content Should You Use with Lorem Ipsum
Lorem Ipsum comes as a plain text. However, you might need to look for a dummy logo, dummy images, and dummy banner ads. These extra aspects allow you to get the full view of the layout of your website. You might have to search for these aspects elsewhere as a lorem ipsum generator doesn’t offer images.
Dummy Logo
Lorem ipsum generator online helps you do more than create senseless text. You can further use dummy logo on your new website. The dummy website logo helps you look at the layout of your pages before you create the logo of the business. Developers add the dummy logo, allowing you the chance to see the overall look of the business. You can move the placeholder logo around the pages on your business and when you are satisfied, you can now start designing a logo. This helps you understand the size and the placement of the logo that will work for your business. There are online sites that allow you to create simple logos by joining a few aspects, and you can use these before you get a professional logo.
Dummy Images
You can also get generic images for your business to go with the loremipsum text. Today, there are no webpages without images. If you really need to see the design and the layout of your pages, adding generic images is the easiest way to check out the designs to see what works and what will need adjustment. Just like the text, the images do not have to be related with the topic of your business. You could have photos of cats, dogs, and other animals, or items not related to your business. There are so many sites online that offer royalty free images to help you grow your business. Before you get the real images you need for your business pages, you can use the generic images from these sites to check out the layout of the business.
With your pages having text, logo, and images, you will be better placed to assess the designs. This will be a like a complete page, but with dummy content to show you the layout and the design of the pages. Once you create the content, the logo, and you have the images you need, you can replace the dummy content with the new content, and you will be good to go. After replacing the text with the real content, the layout and everything else about the site will look the same.
Dummy Ad Banners
Other aspects that will appear on your website once it is complete are ads. Ads can change the layout and overall look of your website once they start appearing. If you need to know exactly how your website will look, you need to have dummy ad banners. The banners can be placed strategically same as they would after you publish your website.
Your lorem ipsum generator will help you generate the content you need to have a website that mimics the real website. If you use lorem ipsum well, it shows you exactly how your website will look like once you design it. It is a simple way for designers to create a framework that guides them and shows the clients how their businesses will look like on creation.
Changes in Lorem Ipsum
Don’t you like lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer adipiscing elit or any other text that looks like that? Lorem ipsum generator services have come to change the way you use ipsum lorem. You do not have to use the same dull texts that have been used for so many years. New text generators can use funny text in a combination of Latin and English to make the text more interesting.
This new and funny lorem ipsum is a great way when you need to test the design and user experience. Even the new funny text still doesn’t make any sense. It might not be related to the topic of your website, but they are funnier and users can read them as they would the real text.
The original lorem ipsum doesn’t change. It is the same old text that holds no meaning in Latin or even after translation. These new texts may or may not have any meaning. They might be a combination of Latin and English, or they might be generic stories of the rat and the hare. The funny bits might mimic someone like Trump’s voice or any other person. This is what makes them funny.
The good thing is, you have a chance to choose the text you need to appear on your space. You can flip through the different texts the lorem ipsum generator offers to see what will meet your needs. If you need to bring out the design aspect of the site more, you can choose the original Latin lorem ipsum dolor sit amet instead of a story that can distract the reader. However, if you need to test the design and the user experience, you can choose a funny or more sober paragraph.
The Use of Lorem Ipsum Generator Plugins
When designing your website through WordPress, Drupal, or any other platform, you do not have to worry about generating lorem ipsum. It is easy to generate the text through a plugin designed for the CMS of your choice. WordPress CMS plugin comes in handy for developers creating themes for the CMS. The themes will come ready with lorem ipsum pages that the users only need to replace with the content they have. The plugins are easy to use as all you need to do is drop your files and you are good to go.
Sublime Text Editor Lorem Ipsum comes in handy when you are designing a website and you need text to try out different layouts and designs. You only need to add the plugin to your workflow and you will be good to go. The plugin enters lorem ipsum text automatically wherever you need it. Atom Text Editor lorem ipsum plugin makes your programming easy when you need to add placeholder text. You only need to include the plugin in your work flow and it gives you the text you need. NPM plugins are also available if you use NPM and need the classic lorem ipsum text on your pages.
Do you use Java? With this being one of the oldest programming languages, it is easy to get a lorem ipsum generator. You only need to choose the generator that meets your needs and you are good to go. There are also Python, JavaScript, and Ruby plugins to help you design your website with the lorem ipsum text on. Not all plugins will offer the original Latin lorem ipsum, as other have plain English text, but you can choose any plugin you need to meet your needs. You can get started today by picking a plugin that meets your needs.
How to Generate Lorem Ipsum
Do you need lorem ipsum on your new pages or your publication? All you have to do is click “Generate” and the lorem ipsum generator will generate the text for you. Once generated, you can choose whether you need to generate a few works, a few sentences, or paragraphs based on the amount of text you need for your website. If you have many pages, you can generate a long passage and then copy as much as you need to fit your pages.
After generating the text, you can highlight the text and paste it on your text holder on the pages on your website. The lorem ipsum generator also offers a “Copy” feature that lets you copy the whole text at once and paste it on the text space in your web pages.
Once you paste the lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer adipiscing elit text, you can format it to look like the content you need to create. There is no difference between loremipsum and any other text. As such, you can alter the fonts, the font sizes, and the colors of the text to meet your needs. If you have smaller text holders such as ad banners, you can add the ipsum lorem text too to create the complete look of your pages.
If you are creating any other type of work on Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, or any other desktop publishing software, you can also copy and paste the generated lorem ipsum into the text editor, format the text as you want, and then publish or print to create the specimen that you need.
How Can You Use Lorem Ipsum?
Once you understand the history of lorem ipsum and that lorem ipsum dolor sit amet doesn’t have any meaning, you need to learn how to use the text to meet your needs. It is a versatile text that you can use in different applications.
Used as a Content Filler – Here, you use loremipsum in place of the original content before you get the content you need. Whether you are creating an infographic, a letter, an ad, or anything else, you can use lorem ipsum to check out the structure.
Use in Photoshop – If you work with Photoshop, you can adds lorem ipsum into the text boxes when you are trying different designs. You can use an online lorem ipsum generator to generate text and then copy and paste the text. Photoshop also offers its ipsum lorem text. You only need to open Type and navigate to Paste Lorem Ipsum. From there, you will see a lorem ipsum text in original Latin.
Lorem Ipsum as a Draft Copy – You can use lorem ipsum to create draft copies before you create the main copy. This is a great way if you want to focus on the draft copy. The first person to use Cicero’s work on a specimen book wanted to avoid distractions on the main copy. Whether you need to create infographics, a website, or any other item, you can use lorem ipsum. Because there is no lorem ipsum meaning, the text helps you focus on the real work at hand.
Understand Your Fonts – There are so many fonts that it can be challenging to choose the best for your work. If you are designing a website, for instance, you can try different fonts to see what works for you. There are hundreds of fonts you can use on your website to meet your needs. You can alter the font, the length, and the design. It is easy to set the specifics of your website before you set up the real content of your website.
Does Lorem Ipsum Affect your SEO?
When you are creating your site and it is still in its infancy stages, Google might index it. It happens that you just added the text from a lorem ipsum generator. A text such as lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer adipiscing elit might appear plagiarized because it doesn’t change much. It is the same original text used in the first specimen book and it has been regurgitated for many years. Google will index your pages if you forget to set it otherwise. However, there is nothing to alarm you. While the site may show plagiarism and all that, Google will not rank your site for anything as all there is there is gibberish. Even people who search “lorem ipsum dolor sit amet” will be directed to sites with more organized content about lorem ipsum.
If you are worried that using lorem ipsum will affect your site SEO, you do not need to worry anymore as Google will re-index your pages once you add the real content and you can now start ranking for that content.
Instead of hurting your SEO, the text can even help your SEO efforts as it helps you create a website that enhances user experience. When you add texts, add generic images from royalty-free sites, add generic logos, banner ads, you are able to create a layout that enhances the experience that your visitors get, and this is great for your SEO efforts. As you design the website, you will look at it as a visitor would look at it to see what needs to improve. Google, Bing, and other search engines consider user experience more when ranking pages. If your page has a great layout, is easy to scan, and offers quality content, you will likely rank higher. However, fail to enhance user experience and come up with a bad layout and lose visitors.
Start Using Lorem Ipsem
What is lorem ipsum meaning? If you enter lorem ipsum dolor sit amet on any translation tool today, you will get a text that doesn’t make any sense. The original text from Cicero had meaning. Cicero was a teacher who taught a lot in his books. That is not to say he garbled the text that later came to be known as lorem ipsum. It was the work of a typesetter who wanted to create a text that made no sense to ensure he minimized distraction from the original copy.
The meaning of lorem ipsum dolor sit amet doesn’t matter. When you are in design and you want to evaluate everything before you start creating the real thing, you can use a lorem ipsum generator to help you assess the layout before you start the design process. So many professionals can use lorem ipsum, including graphic designers using programs such as Photoshop or MS Publisher, developers creating apps and software, website designers, theme designers for WordPress or Drupal or any other CMS, publishers creating new book layouts, and so many other professionals in the printing and publishing industry. Using a lorem ipsum generator is not complicated at all – you only click “generate” and then choose the length of the text you want to generate. Do not forget to format your text once you paste it on your pages to get a good sample of the pages you need to create.