Using
lorem ipsum to focus attention on graphic elements in a webpage design proposal
In
publishing and
graphic design,
lorem ipsum[1] is
placeholder text (filler text) commonly used to demonstrate the
graphic elements of a document or visual presentation, such as
font,
typography, and
layout, by removing the distraction of meaningful content. The lorem ipsum text is typically a section of a
Latin text by
Cicero with words altered, added and removed that make it nonsensical in meaning and not proper Latin.
[1]
Example text
A common form of
lorem ipsum text reads as follows:
|
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. |
Another version of the text uses the word "adipisici" (rather than "adipisci
ng"; the digraph
ng
at the end of words is alien to classical Latin). Other versions of
lorem ipsum include additional words to add variety so that repeated
verses will not word-wrap on the same phrases.
History and discovery
A variation of the common lorem ipsum text has been used since the 1960's or earlier
[1] to provide a filler text during typesetting.
The text is derived from
sections 1.10.32–3 of
Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum (
On the Boundaries of Goods and Evils, or alternatively
[About] The Purposes of Good and Evil).
[2] The original passage began:
Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit
(Translation: "Neither is there anyone who loves pain itself since it
is pain and thus wants to obtain it"). It is not known exactly when the
text acquired its current standard form; it may have been as late as the
1960s.
Richard McClintock, a
Latin scholar who was the publications director at
Hampden-Sydney College in
Virginia, discovered the source of the passage sometime before 1982 while searching for citings of the Latin word "
consectetur", rarely used in classical literature.
[1][3] The physical source of the Lorem Ipsum text may be the 1914 Loeb Classical Library Edition of the
De Finibus,
where the Latin text finishes page 34 with "Neque porro quisquam est
qui do-" and begins page 36 with "lorem ipsum (et seq.) ...," suggesting
that the
galley type
of that page was scrambled to make the dummy text seen today. This
suggests that "lorem ipsum" may have been used as dummy text before the
Letraset transfer sheets popularized it.
The original version (with the excerpted items highlighted) appears in Book 1, sections 32–3 (pagination varies by publisher):
[32] Sed ut perspiciatis, unde omnis iste natus
error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem
aperiam eaque ipsa, quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto
beatae vitae dicta sunt, explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem, quia
voluptas sit, aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni
dolores eos, qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt, neque porro
quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum, quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci[ng] velit, sed quia non numquam [do] eius modi tempora inci[di]dunt, ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit, qui in ea voluptate velit esse, quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum, qui dolorem eum fugiat, quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
[33] At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus, qui
blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti, quos dolores
et quas molestias excepturi sint, obcaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa, qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum
et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita
distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio,
cumque nihil impedit, quo minus id, quod maxime placeat, facere
possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus.
Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum
necessitatibus saepe eveniet, ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et
molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente
delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut
perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat...
The text does not have any occurrences of the letters K or Z (not
uncommon due to the letters' use primarily in the transliteration of
Greek words), nor the letter W (it was not part of the Classical Roman
Alphabet).
English translation
H. Rackham's 1914 translation - in the aforementioned Loeb Classical
Library edition - with the major source of lorem ipsum highlighted:
[32] But I must explain to you how all this
mistaken idea of denouncing of a pleasure and praising pain was born and
I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the
actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder
of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself,
because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue
pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful.
Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no
resultant pleasure? [33] On the other hand, we denounce with righteous
indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the
charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil
and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a
free hour, when our power of choice is untrammeled and when nothing
prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be
welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing
to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently
occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The
wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of
selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or
else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.
Variations
Cicero's first
Oration against Catiline is sometimes used in
type specimens:
Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet?…
Today's popular version of
lorem ipsum was first created for
Aldus Corporation's first
desktop publishing program
Aldus PageMaker in the mid-1980s for the
Apple Macintosh.
[1] Art director Laura Perry adapted older forms of the
lorem text from
typography samples—it was, for example, widely used in
Letraset catalogs in the 1960s and 1970s
[1]
(anecdotes suggest that the original use of the "Lorem ipsum" text was
by Letraset, which was used for print layouts by advertising agencies as
early as the 1970s). The text was frequently used in PageMaker
templates.
Various pieces of software, including text editors (or plug-in
modules for same), can generate semi-random "lorem text" that often has
little or nothing in common with the canonical variety, other than
looking like (and often being) jumbled Latin. Apple's
Pages and
Keynote software use this jumbled text as a sample screenplay for their screenplay layout. Lorem ipsum is also featured on
Joomla! and
WordPress web content managers.
Microsoft Office Word 2007, 2010 and 2013 have a Lorem ipsum feature.
[4] "Lorem and More" is an extension for inserting "lorem text" into web pages in
Adobe Dreamweaver.
[5]L