Lorem Ipsum
Lorem Ipsum is a dummy block of text used in publishing and graphic design to fill gaps in the page before the actual words are added to the finished product.
What is Lorem Ipsum?
Lorem Ipsum is just dummy text used in the printing and typesetting industries. Since the 1500s, when an unknown printer scrambled a galley of type to make a type specimen book, Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text. It has not only survived five centuries, but also the transition to electronic typesetting, remaining largely unchanged.
Why do we use it?
It is a well-known fact that a reader will be distracted by a page's readable content when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal letter distribution, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here' which makes it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will reveal many new web sites. Various versions have emerged over time, sometimes by chance, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).
Where does it come from?
Lorem Ipsum is not just random text, contrary to popular belief. It has roots in 45 BC classical Latin literature, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage and discovered the undeniable source by going through the citations of the word in classical literature. Lorem Ipsum is derived from Cicero's "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil), written in 45 BC. This book is a popular treatise on the theory of ethics during the Renaissance.
The standard Lorem Ipsum passage
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing 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.".