When reviewing mockups prepared by designers of new law firm websites, legal marketers are likely to see Latin "dummy" text in those portions of the layout where site copy will appear. It might go something like this:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Ut sit amet urna. Integer nisl eros, fringilla sit amet, imperdiet quis, adipiscing nec, odio. Maecenas dapibus quam id mi. Cras sit amet nunc ut odio imperdiet vestibulum. Fusce justo quam, placerat sit amet, interdum ac, lobortis vel, enim. In eget nisi ac velit volutpat semper. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas.
I don't speak Latin. Do you? Didn't think so. So what does this text mean and why can't designers just use plain English?
Truth is, there's a method to the madness . . .
As explained on Wikipedia, it is established that when asked to provide feedback on a design, readers will get distracted by readable content on a page and fail to focus on the overall layout and other design elements. Therefore, designers use "lorem ipsum" text that is unreadable (instead of readable "dummy" English text) when presenting a design so clients will ignore the content and focus on the presentation they are being asked to review. However, while unreadable, "lorem ipsum" text approximates a typical distribution of spaces in English, which makes it look entirely natural.
Interestingly, "lorem ipsum" text is not gibberish. The text is derived from Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum ("On the Ends of Goods and Evils", or alternatively "[About] The Purposes of Good and Evil") written in 45 B.C. The passage was discovered by Richard McClintock, a Latin scholar who is the publications director at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. Publishers began using it as "dummy" text in the 1960's, and it was first used in design software in the 1980's by Aldus Corporation in its Pagemaker application for the Apple Mcintosh.
Cicero's original passage began: "Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit..." Which translates as "Neither is there anyone who loves grief itself since it is grief and thus wants to obtain it..." See the Wikipedia entry referenced above for the complete passage and 1914 translation by H. Rackham.
For designers who don't speak Latin looking for a tool to generate "lorem ipsum" text, there's a nifty website that will generate "lorem ipsum" text for you of the length and style needed for your design.
Comments