Designers, developers and writers constantly need text that isn’t real yet: a mock-up before the copy is written, a template to test, a layout to stress. Lorem ipsum has served that purpose for a long time. This generator makes as much of it as you need, in whatever shape you need it.
How to generate placeholder text
Choose whether you want paragraphs, sentences or words, set how many, and the text appears straight away. Copy it or download it as a text file. Press Generate again to get a different random version. Tick or untick the classic opening line to choose between the traditional “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet” start and completely random text.
Paragraphs are four to six sentences each, separated by a blank line. Sentences vary in length, with the occasional comma so they read naturally. Words are returned as a single run, which is useful for headings, button labels and short fields.
What lorem ipsum actually is
Lorem ipsum is a form of scrambled Latin that has been used by printers and typesetters as dummy text for a very long time. Its words are derived from a classical Latin source, but they’ve been altered and shuffled so they don’t form real sentences. That’s useful: if you fill a layout with readable text, people read it and start commenting on the content. Fill it with lorem ipsum and attention goes where it should, on typography, spacing and structure.
The letter and word frequencies are close to those of ordinary written language, which means the text has a realistic texture. Long and short words are mixed, the lines break in plausible places, and paragraphs have a natural rhythm.
When placeholder text helps
- Web and app design. Fill cards, articles and forms to check how a design copes with real quantities of text.
- Templates and themes. Show how a template looks before real content is added.
- Print layouts. Test columns, margins and line lengths for brochures and magazines.
- Typography samples. Compare typefaces and sizes on realistic blocks of text.
- Testing software. Fill a database, a comment box or an editor with bulk content to see how it performs. For hundreds of identical rows rather than random text, the text repeater is the better tool.
When not to use it
Placeholder text can hide problems. Real content is rarely as tidy as lorem ipsum. Real headlines run to three lines, product names contain long unbroken words, and user comments can be one word or one thousand. If you design only with perfectly even filler, you may be surprised on launch day. Test with realistic extremes too: very short text, very long text, and text in other languages.
It’s also worth remembering that placeholder text must never reach a live page. Search engines index what’s published, and lorem ipsum left on a site looks unprofessional. Search your pages before launch.
If you want mock content with a more realistic feel, repeat a real sentence with the line repeater, or write a few genuine examples and repeat those with numbering for variety.
Tips for using the output
Check the length of a block with the word counter, for example to match a design that allows 40 words in a card. Use words mode for headings and buttons, sentences for short descriptions and paragraphs for body copy.
If you’re after decorative text for social profiles rather than filler, see the fancy text generator.
Realistic filler that is not Latin
Lorem ipsum is easy to ignore, which is its point. When you want filler that behaves more like real content, the random word generator gives you English words in any length range and the random name generator fills a table of people. To check how long a block is before it goes into a design, count it with the character counter or time it with the reading time calculator.