Lorem ipsum (lipsum for short) is the standard placeholder text used since the 1500s in the publishing and graphic design industry. It is used to demonstrate the elements of graphic presentation, such as fonts, typography, and layout. It also serves as the placeholder text in the mock-ups of visual design projects before the actual words are inserted into the finished product. When used in this manner, it is also called greeking.

Because lorem ipsum resembles classical Latin, it often arouses curiosity about its meaning; however it is intended to have none. When text is readable, people tend to focus on what the words are saying; when displaying a typeface or a design, publishers use lorem ipsum to direct the focus on the presentation instead of on the content. Additionally, lorem ipsum approximates a normal distribution of letters in English. This also helps to shift the focus to the presentation.

The standard lorem ipsum text reads:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

The text is derived from Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum, (On the ends of the good and the evil). The original passage began: Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit. (Translation: "Nobody likes pain for its own sake, or looks for it and wants to have it, just because it is pain....")

Many variations on the standard lipsum text exist, some with little resemblance to the original. Other versions have additional letters — such as k, w, and z — that were uncommon or missing in Latin, and nonsense words such as zzril, takimata, and gubergren added to the original passage to achieve a distribution of letters that more closely approximates English.

See also: A sample of the text, List of Latin phrases

External links

• Traditional Lorem ipsum text.
• Lorem ipsum generator, with many user settings.
• Lipsum.com. General information and a Lorem ipsum generator
• [1], Ipsum and other languages and charsets.
• de finibus bonorum, The full text.