Lorem Ipsum: What It Is, Where It Comes From and When Not to Use It
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet…" has filled mock-ups since the days of metal type. It's useful — and it's also misused.
Where it comes from
The text is scrambled Latin from De finibus bonorum et malorum, a work by Cicero from 45 BC. Words were cut and altered so it reads like a language without meaning anything. That's the point: it has the rhythm of real text, with word lengths and spacing that look natural, but nobody gets distracted reading it.
When it helps
- Early layout work, when you're judging columns, line length and spacing.
- Templates and themes that will be filled by someone else.
- Testing how components handle short and long content.
How much to generate
| Element | Typical amount |
|---|---|
| Card or teaser | 1–2 sentences |
| Blog post preview | 1 paragraph |
| Article page | 4–6 paragraphs |
| Button or label | 2–3 words |
The Lorem Ipsum generator makes paragraphs, sentences or words, can start with the classic opening and can wrap each paragraph in <p> tags for HTML.
When to use real content instead
- Usability tests: people can't evaluate a page they can't read.
- Other languages: German words are longer, Chinese and Japanese have no spaces, Arabic runs right to left. Latin filler hides all of that.
- Headlines and buttons: real wording often won't fit where the placeholder did.
- Anything going live: search engines treat placeholder text as low-quality content, and it's embarrassing when it slips through.
Tip: before launch, search your site for "lorem" — and use the word counter to check the real copy fits the space you designed.
Try the free tool
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