Lorem ipsum: is it gibberish or a useful tool?

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Over the many computer programming courses I’ve followed/studied, I have frequently run across references to lorem-ipsum and its use in designing application user interfaces. I never fully understood why such a nonsensical collection of words was so important to design or even relavent until I ran across this item about it’s history in a SourceForge newsletter I get at What Is Lorem Ipsum? Unveiling Its Origins, Applications, and Controversies - SourceForge Learn.

I hope you find it as interesting as I did,

Ernie

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Fascinating, thank you Ernie.
I think the handwriting equivalent might be the sentence
"The quick brown fox… "
at least in English, it contains every letter.
I remember using it learning handwriting
but I never encountered Lorum Ipsum at school, not even in Latin classes.
Regards
Neville

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I encountered lorem-ipsum several times while studying various programming languages, one of which was C#. It was used in the parts where I learned to ‘design’ various components of the graphical user interface. I didn’t really understand why the author used it then as placeholder text, but now I think I understand the reasons better. By using such a nonsensical string of words, the author was placing the focus on the interface design, not the content. Of course, when the functionality was added, the real content replaced the hard-coded lorem-ipsum text which was removed. At the time, I thought the placeholder text was making extra work, but now I think I see why it was used.

Ernie

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I worked in design for a few years and I cannot think how many times I used it for page layout to show to clients. Especially when teaching that to students. Even now I find I drop back to use it. Especially with the generator site which even allows me to choose the number of words or size of a. Item.

Cannot think of many designers who have not made the most of the site.
But over time I had forgotten its origin so thanks for the reminder.

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Thank you for the input, and especially for the link. I’ll probably use it from time to time when I get back into development again. I tend to go in phases. Right now, I’m exploring - looking for the next project that grabs my interest. :).

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