AGB (placeholder text)

Dummy texts are texts that are used in the production of publications or websites as placeholders for later content when the actual text is not yet available. They are also called dummy, filler or placeholder texts. or placeholder texts. Sometimes composers of songs are said to use dummy texts when composing melodies and sing them before writing the lyrics. Blind texts are thought to have been common among composers as early as the 16th century. were common among composers.

Appropriateness in the case of senselessness of content

Dummy texts are also used to demonstrate the shape of different typefaces and for layout purposes. As a rule, they do not make any sense in terms of content. Because of their widespread function as filler text for layout non-readability is of particular importance, since human perception is geared, among other things, to recognising certain patterns and repetitions. If the distribution of letters and the length of "words" is arbitrary, for example, nothing distracts from the assessment of the effect and legibility of different fonts (typography) as well as the distribution of the text on the page (layout or type area). Therefore, dummy texts usually consist of a more or less arbitrary sequence of words or syllables. Repetition patterns can therefore not spoil the overall impression and fonts can thus be better compared with each other. It is of course advantageous if the dummy text appears reasonably realistic so that the effect of the layout of the later publication is not impaired.

German or Latin? Incomprehensibility or readability? These are the questions.

The best-known dummy text is the text "Lorem ipsum", which is said to have originated in the 16th century. Lorem ipsum is written in a pseudo-Latin language that roughly corresponds to "natural" Latin. In it there are a number of real Latin words. This dummy text is also incomprehensible, but imitates the rhythm of most European languages in Latin script. The advantage of the Latin origin and the The advantage of the Latin origin and the relative meaninglessness of Lorem ipsum is that the text neither attracts the viewer's attention nor distracts from the design.

One disadvantage, however, is that in Latin certain letters occur more frequently and others less frequently, which creates a different print image. In addition, in Latin only the beginnings of sentences are capitalised, so that Lorem ipsum cannot reproduce the general noun capitalisation of the German language. As a visual placeholder for German-language texts, Lorem ipsum is therefore only suitable to a limited extent. If dummy texts are to be used to compare the If dummy texts are to be used to compare the peculiarities of the fonts, it can also make sense to choose texts that use as many letters and special characters as possible that are typical for the respective language.

In the meantime, there is also an abundance of readable dummy texts. These are mostly used when their function is that of a pure placeholder text. These alternatives to the classic lorem ipsum texts are often amusing and tell small and tell small, funny or meaningless stories.

Origin and meaning of the Lorem ipsum text

According to most sources, Lorem ipsum goes back to a text by Cicero from 45 BC. According to this, a Latin teacher determined the origin by collecting references to the unusual word "consectetur". and recognised the correspondence with a passage in De finibus bonorum et malorum (On the Limits of Good and Evil) by Cicero, which was well known in the Middle Ages: "Neque porro quisquam est, qui do lorem ipsum, quia dolor sit, amet, consectetur, adipisci velit [...]" (Meaning: "There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks it and wants it, simply because it is pain [...]"). A typical Lorem ipsum text reads something like: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim [...]".

Only fragments of the original text seem to have found their way into the Lorem ipsum texts in use today. It can be assumed that over the course of time a number of letters were inserted or deleted at various points in the text. or deleted. Therefore, slightly different variants of the text can now be found. Copyright problems do not arise due to the age of the Lorem ipsum text.

In the 1960s, the text became known beyond the circle of typesetters and layout artists when excerpts of the Lorem ipsum text were used on Letraset sheets (popular adhesive letters on transparent foil that were widespread until the 1980s). transparencies) were used. Versions of the text were subsequently also included in DTP (desktop publishing) programs such as PageMaker, etc.

Automatic recognition of Lorem ipsum during print preparation

The spread of computers and layout programmes thus made dummy texts more popular. Whereas in the past a few lines of the Lorem ipsum text were continuously repeated in dummy texts, Cicero's text now serves as the basis of many dummy text or Lorem ipsum generators. Based on this, they automatically generate longer sections of the Lorem ipsum text or various other placeholder texts.

The Lorem ipsum text sequence is so widespread and common nowadays that many DTP programmes can generate dummy texts with the initial sequence "Lorem ipsum". Of great advantage is that the sequence of terms "Lorem ipsum" is can now be recognised in electronic print preparation and a warning message triggered. This prevents a publication with a remaining filler text from going to print by mistake.

However, some Internet providers take advantage of the fact that filler or placeholder texts cannot be recognised by automatic search programmes, for example, and that meaningless information cannot be distinguished from meaningful information: Targeted dummy text, provided with a specific combination of search words, can lead to increased access by search engine users. As a result, advertising revenues, which depend on the "number of hits" on the of the web page.

Source: Wikipedia