Lorem Ipsum Generator

Placeholder text in exactly the amount and shape you need: by paragraphs, sentences, words or list items, optionally as ready-made HTML or Markdown. If you need the same text again later, remember the seed.

Where the text comes from

Lorem Ipsum is not an invention but a mangled quotation. The source isDe finibus bonorum et malorum, a treatise on ethics Cicero wrote in 45 BC. The passage in question reads “…neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit…” – roughly: “there is no one who loves pain for its own sake.”

At some point dolorem ipsum became lorem ipsum: a typesetter, probably in the 16th century, cut off the start of the word, scrambled the passage and cast it as a specimen page for type. In that form it survived for centuries, reached the design trade through Letraset dry-transfer sheets in the 1960s and, from there, Aldus PageMaker in the 1980s – until the text was preinstalled in practically every layout program on earth.

Why placeholder text and not just “asdf asdf”

Placeholder text has a job that mashing the keyboard cannot do: it must look like text without being text. Lorem Ipsum roughly matches the word lengths, syllable distribution and vowel frequency of Western European languages. A paragraph of it produces the same grey value on the page as a real paragraph – and that grey value is exactly what you judge when choosing type size, leading and column width.

The second reason is psychological: comprehensible text inevitably draws attention to itself. Put a real, readable sentence into a draft and the room will discuss its wording instead of the layout. Pseudo-Latin reliably prevents that, because there is nothing to understand.

When placeholder text is the wrong choice

As useful as it is in an early draft, it becomes deceptive later on. Lorem Ipsum is even – real content never is. A headline that wraps onto two lines in the draft may turn out to be a single word, or fourteen; a product description that fits the card perfectly as placeholder text is three times as long in reality, or missing entirely. Layouts tested only with Lorem Ipsum tend to break on the first real record.

And a practical note: placeholder text must not go live. Over the years it has repeatedly ended up on finished websites, in newsletters and even in printed ads because nobody replaced it. Search engines index such pages like any other – search for“lorem ipsum dolor sit amet” and you will find thousands. Checking your full-text search before release costs a minute.

Placeholder text in HTML, Markdown and your editor

For browser drafts the generator can output the text directly as <p>paragraphs or as a <ul> list, and for documentation as Markdown with blank lines between paragraphs. In the editor itself it is often quicker still: in any Emmet-capable editor – VS Code has Emmet built in – typing lorem plus Tab produces a paragraph of placeholder text, lorem20 exactly twenty words andul>li*5>lorem6 a finished list.

For test data in code, look at libraries such as faker: they generate not only placeholder prose but plausible names, addresses and dates – much closer to what an application will actually have to display.

Frequently asked questions

Is Lorem Ipsum real Latin?
No. The words are of Latin origin, but their order and inflection make no sense.Lorem is not even a Latin word – it is what remains of dolorem. The text therefore cannot be translated, and that is the point.

What is the seed for?
The text comes out of a random number generator that is fed a starting value. The same starting value produces the same text. That is useful when two drafts should stay comparable, when a screenshot has to be reproducible, or when a UI test expects the same text as on the last run. Leave the field empty and every click produces a new text – the seed that was used is shown below the output.

How many words fit on a page?
As a rule of thumb for an A4 page at 11 pt with 1.5 line spacing: around 350 to 400 words, or about four to five medium-length paragraphs. A screen column at a comfortable reading width holds roughly 40 to 70 words per paragraph.

Does Lorem Ipsum hurt SEO?
Not as long as it stays in the draft. On a published page, however, it is text without information – search engines will rate the page as exactly what it is: one without content. Add to that duplicate content, since the same sentences appear on countless other pages. One forgotten paragraph is no reason to panic, but it is a reason to tidy up.

Is the generated text stored anywhere?
No. The generator runs entirely in your browser; there is no server that could receive anything. The only thing remembered is your choice of amount, unit, length and format – in your browser's local storage, so the settings are still right on your next visit.