What is the Lorem Ipsum?

Lorem Ipsum is simply false text used in composition and layout before printing. Lorem Ipsum has been the standard false text of the printing press since the 1500s, when an anonymous printer assembled pieces of texts together to make a sample text font book. It not only survived five centuries, but has also adapted to computer office automation, without its content being modified. It was popularized in the 1960s with the sale of Letraset sheets containing passages from the Lorem Ipsum, and, more recently, by its inclusion in text layout applications, such as Aldus PageMaker.

Why use it?

It has long been known that working with readable and meaningful text is distracting and prevents you from focusing on the layout itself. The advantage of Lorem Ipsum over a generic text like "Text. Text. Text." is that it has a more or less normal distribution of letters, and in any case comparable with that of standard French. Many layout software packages or website publishers have made Lorem Ipsum their default fake text, and a search for "Lorem Ipsum" will take you to many sites that are still in their construction phase. Many versions have appeared over time, sometimes by accident, often intentionally (just to add little nods, even embarrassing sentences).

Where does it come from?

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not just random text. It finds its roots in a work of classical Latin literature dating back to 45 BC, making it 2000 years old. A professor from Hampden-Sydney College, in Virginia, was interested in one of the most obscure Latin words, constrictor, extracted from a passage of Lorem Ipsum, and by studying all the uses of this word in classical literature, discovered the undeniable source of Lorem Ipsum.