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Why do designers use "Lorem Ipsum Dolor" to fill space?

Asked 2009-11-30T19:48:27.883
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Why is it traditional to use Latin Pseudo-Latin in example pages? Is actual hypothetical content too confusing?

In this documentation page I snarfed chunks of text from wikipedia -- does this make the page more confusing than if I used Latin or Sanskrit?

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"Lorem ipsum" pseudo-latin is also used as placeholder text, because 1) it is similar in format (consonant/vowel balance, word size, punctuation) to real text but 2) it has no meaning, so clients or others won't be distracted by reading actual words. Humans have a tendency to automatically read words that are put in front of them, but in an example page you want them to focus on the layout, functionality, etc.

To answer the question about your own site: yes, using wikipedia test could make it more confusing, or at least cause a potential user to think that the application was intended for a particular purpose ("sure, it works for factual entries, but I'm trying to write a novel").

answered 2009-11-30T19:53:11.147

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