Celebration of Light Ut enim ad minima

Dummy text is also used to demonstrate the appearance of different typefaces and layouts, and in general the content of dummy text is nonsensical. Due to its widespread use as filler text for layouts, non-readability is of great importance: human perception is tuned to recognize certain patterns and repetitions in texts. If the distribution of letters and ‘words’ is random, the reader will not be distracted from making a neutral

judgement on the visual impact and readability of the typefaces (typography), or the distribution of text on the page (layout or type area). For this reason, dummy text usually consists of a more or less random series of words or syllables. This prevents repetitive patterns from impairing the overall visual impression and facilitates the comparison of different typefaces. Furthermore, it is advantageous when the dummy text is relatively

realistic so that the layout impression of the final publication is not compromised. 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

The spread of computers and layout programmes thus made dummy text better known. While in earlier times several lines of the Lorem Ipsum text were repeated in the creation of dummy texts, today the full text of Cicero’s ‘De finibus’ serves as the basis for many dummy text or Lorem Ipsum generators. Based on ‘De finibus’, these generators automatically create longer sections of the Lorem Ipsum text or various other filler texts.

The phrasal sequence of the Lorem Ipsum text is now so widespread and commonplace that many DTP programmes can generate dummy text using the starting sequence “Lorem ipsum”. Fortunately, the phrase ‘Lorem Ipsum’ is now recognized by electronic pre-press systems and, when found, an alarm can be raised. This avoids a publication going to print with overlooked dummy text.

Certain internet providers exploit the fact that fill text cannot be recognized by automatic search engines – meaningful information cannot be distinguished from meaningless: Target-generated dummy text mixed with a certain combination of search terms can lead to an increased frequency of visits by search machine users. As a consequence, advertising revenues, which rely on website ‘hits’, are increased.

One disadvantage of Lorum Ipsum is that in Latin certain letters appear more frequently than others – which creates a distinct visual impression. Moreover, in Latin only words at the beginning of sentences are capitalized; this means that Lorem Ipsum cannot accurately represent, for example, German, in which all nouns are capitalized. Thus, Lorem Ipsum has only limited suitability as a visual filler for German texts.