What Should You Use Instead of Lorem Ipsum?

The problem with defaulting to lorem ipsum

I used to paste lorem ipsum into every mockup without thinking. It was fast, it looked like real text, and nobody questioned it. Then I watched a client spend twenty minutes of a review asking what the Latin meant, instead of looking at the design I wanted feedback on. That meeting taught me the real rule: lorem ipsum is only good when nobody needs to read the words.

It is great for judging fonts, spacing, and column widths, because its letter mix looks a lot like English. But the moment someone has to react to the message, it fails completely. You cannot usability-test nonsense. A tester cannot tell you whether a headline is convincing when the headline says nothing. And a client cannot approve a homepage when every paragraph is gibberish.

There is a second trap, too. A layout that looks perfect in Latin can break the day real copy arrives. Real headlines run longer, and German translations run about 30 percent longer than the English, enough to blow up a tidy navigation bar. If you only ever test with lorem ipsum, you only ever test the easy case.

Pick the filler that matches the job

Stop asking which placeholder text is best in general. Ask what you are testing, and the answer picks itself:

Judging layout only? Classic lorem ipsum is still the right call. It keeps eyes on the design, not the words. Generate the amount you actually expect, not a random wall of text, because a 300-word block hides problems a 60-word block would show.

Showing it to a client? Use rough draft copy in plain English, even if it is ugly and unfinished. Something like "Fresh bread baked every morning, delivered before 8am" tells a bakery client ten times more than five paragraphs of Latin ever will.

Running a user test? Real or near-real copy is the only honest option. Testers react to words, and fake words give you fake feedback. If the final copy is not ready, write a quick draft yourself rather than testing with nonsense.

Building for another language? Use placeholder text in that language. A German or Finnish version of the same page will stretch your containers in ways Latin never will, and finding that out after launch is painful.

Prefer watching? This walkthrough shows placeholder text and fake sample data being generated for mockups, side by side.

The alternatives, one by one

So what are the actual options beyond the classic? Here is the honest rundown, including the ones I would skip.

Themed ipsums. Bacon ipsum, hipster ipsum, cupcake ipsum, corporate ipsum, pirate ipsum. They are fun for about thirty seconds. Honestly, they are a trap for client work: the joke wears off fast, and then your mockup just looks silly. Save them for internal demos.

Draft copy. This is the strongest alternative, full stop. It does not have to be good. A rough paragraph the client wrote in an email beats polished Latin every time, because it carries the real message, the real length, and the real tone.

Same-language filler. For multilingual projects, generate or write filler in the target language. You are not testing words here, you are testing space, and only the real language tells the truth about that. A German headline I tested once ran 34 words where the English ran 24, and it broke a two-line hero layout on the spot.

Content-model labels. Instead of fake sentences, write what each block is for: the job of the section, the rough length, the call to action. Designers sometimes call this content-first placeholder text. It is brilliant for early wireframes, because it forces the conversation about what the page must say, not just how it looks.

Placeholder images and data. Text is only half the mockup. Pair filler words with grey boxes or sample photos at the real dimensions, and use realistic fake names in tables instead of "test test test" five times.

Try it on a real mockup in 5 minutes

Here is a quick test you can run right now. Say you are mocking up a landing page for a small bakery. First, decide what you are testing. If it is the layout, open our lorem ipsum generator and generate 3 paragraphs, about 150 words, which is roughly what a real bakery intro runs. Paste it in and check the layout.

Next, run the same page through the word counter test: paste the real headline you expect, something like "Fresh sourdough, baked at 5am and sold out by noon," and see how it wraps. If the headline breaks to three lines where you planned two, you have found a real problem in two minutes.

Then try the extremes. Shrink the intro to one sentence and stretch it to 300 words. If the card still looks good at both ends, your layout is solid. That whole loop takes about five minutes, and it catches the exact failures lorem ipsum alone hides.

One last habit: before anything goes live, search the whole site for the words "lorem ipsum." I have seen it slip into production more than once, and nothing says unfinished like Latin on a live homepage. If you want the backstory, our guide on what lorem ipsum actually means covers where it came from.

Frequently asked questions

Is lorem ipsum bad for design mockups?

No, it is still the best choice when you are only judging layout, fonts, and spacing. It only becomes a problem when someone needs to react to the words themselves, like in a user test or a client review.

What is the best lorem ipsum alternative for client presentations?

Rough draft copy in the client's own words, even if it is unfinished. Clients cannot judge a design when the text is nonsense, and they will spend the whole meeting asking what the Latin means instead of looking at your layout.

Should I use placeholder text in the language of the final site?

Yes, when the site will ship in another language. German text runs roughly 30 percent longer than English, so a layout that looks perfect in Latin can break badly in German. Test with the real language early.

Can I leave placeholder text in a live website?

Never. Placeholder text on a live page looks unfinished, confuses visitors, and can even get indexed by search engines. Swap in real content before launch, and do a final search for lorem ipsum across the whole site.