Lorem Ipsum ...and Bacon #WebDesignGeek

"Lorem Ipsum" is nonesense placeholder text created by printers either in the 1500's or in the 1960's depending on which site you trust most for your historical facts. Its use has thrived as part of modern-day print and web design. Placeholder content is useful for mocking up web pages and free online Lorem Ipsum generators abound, including a few rather unique options...


Basic Lorem Ipsum
Normal Lorem Ipsum generators are exceedingly easy to find. The most widely-used is www.lipsum.com, a service that provides some background information on the subject and provides a utility to generate a user-specified number of paragraphs, words or bulleted list items of nonsense words:

Nulla mattis, tortor ut pharetra varius, sem nulla interdum augue, ut condimentum diam tortor sed magna. Donec ultrices, est id viverra dignissim, erat tellus convallis eros, non dictum risus nibh ut tellus. Fusce tristique tempus mauris in gravida...


Beyond the Basics
If you require more than paragraphs and bulleted lists, www.loremipsum.net provides options for block quotes, code samples and more.

If you prefer your nonesense to be in English then www.randomtext.me has you covered with a "Generate Gibberish" option along with the standard "Generate Lorem Ipsum".

Jeepers suave uninhibited blamelessly academic that much blubbered however jeez cogent hence until more one ouch and cockily hence inside yellow manatee immutable far hello this remote as relentlessly dear smooched goodness earthworm jay


Fun with Food
Edible Ipsum options are available if you'd like to make a statement about your preferred diet. My personal favorite is baconipsum.com where you can opt for "All Meat" or "Meat and Filler". It also helps that Pete Nelson (@GunGeekATX) is a fellow Austin geek.

Bacon ipsum dolor sit amet bresaola drumstick jerky hamburger, ribeye beef ribs kielbasa strip steak pork chop rump ground round swine shoulder. Pork chop brisket shoulder shank...

Meat not in your diet? Pete points to veggie options veggieipsum.com and veganipsum.com:

Lentil lotus root coriander turnip pea sprouts daikon plantain. Chard turnip greens tomatillo...

If your aversion to flesh doesn't extend to the aquatic then tunaipsum.com is waiting to fill your screen with fishy phrases:

Zebra trout, steelhead smoothtongue bluefin tuna scissor-tail rasbora. Pike conger catfish...


Beer Me

Ok, granted -- beeripsum.com isn't fully brewed (words are often repeated and the first letter of each sentence isn't even capitalized) but it's still fun. If you prefer something with a bit more kick try liquoripsum.com.

alpha acid becher. brew, malt extract, sparge, biere de garde berliner weisse crystal malt. balthazar length; alpha acid hop back shelf life balthazar beer goblet sour/acidic. craft beer enzymes, terminal gravity lauter, saccharification lager all-malt...


The Classics
If you prefer your nonesense to make sense then fill your pages with text direct from classic texts (classic fiction, the Bible, etc). www.maketext.be and www.fillerati.com both offer eight source text options.

"Then you must go to the City of Emeralds.  Perhaps Oz will help you."
"Where is this city?" asked Dorothy.
"It is exactly in the center of the country, and is ruled by Oz, the Great Wizard I told you of."

   

The Geeky Classics
Geek trumps Greek via mismatched phrases from Monty Python, The Simpsons, Star Wars, Dexter and more at Fillerama:

I am a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan-- I suggest you try it again, Luke. This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct. Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force. Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid...


Pictures = A Thousand Nonesense Words
Text is easy, but what about images? Well even here you have a couple of basic choices: actual random images or colored image placeholders.

lorempixel.com allows you to insert links that will generate new random pictues of a certain size each time the web page is refreshed. Options include selecting a fixed (instead of random) image,specifying color or grayscale images and even a selection of image categories (animals, sports, food, etc). Here's a random 400-by-200 pixel link (the image will change with each page reload/refresh):

Photos are great but for layout work I typically prefer something less distracting. Colored boxes provide nice placeholders to show where images will appear. Inserting a colored box via HTML and CSS is simplicity itself but a slightly nicer option is offered by placehold.it. An image link such as <img src="http://placehold.it/400x200"> renders the following:

placehold.it allows you to optionally specify background color and custom text. Images are rendered in GIF format but you can specify images to be rendered in JPG and PNG formats (in case you don't trust your web browser's rendering capabilities?)