Array Studio Reading List - a list of useful books

How to use lorem ipsum July 10, 2006

Few days ago I read this article on Signal vs Noise Blog. Even though I respect their work and oppinions (after all, we are using their products), this particular article I coundn’t completelly agree on.

As you’ll be able to read - they are strongly suggesting you shouldn’t use Lorem Ipsum as your “content-here” text.

Well, why not? Specially when you are working on some client’s project where material is always late at least for few days or even months.

You can always try to guess which text would client like to place, but 95% of the time, you’ll be wrong — and more importantly, you’ll spend few hours explaining WHY you placed that text there - instead of using the meeting time discussing usability and design issues.

So, my idea is to create a mockup layout with Lorem Ipsum text in place of paragraphs only. I always use regular text for headlines, navigation buttons, etc in order to present true website functionality. However, when you know there should be a paragraph of text explaining your client’s marketing strategy, mission statement, or some other blah-blah — put Lorem Ipsum paragraph there. You can check provided sample so you can see what I had in mind.

As you can see, I used Lorem Ipsum as paragraphs in places that are not much important for site functionality - (not in headlines, navigation, links…). Additionally, I used some bold and red elements - things that client will most certanly use in real life.

It cuts your working time, it works, it doesn’t create confusion - just use it properly.

However, when you are creating your own application, then forget about Lorem Ipsum.

Best lorem ipsum generator I stumbled upon in the past you can find on Lipsum.com.