Why you can’t read Lorem ipsum

Hello World! LTNS.

Today I am going to hook you designers up with some links to sites that make the blocking of your content easier and faster. Traditionally we all use Lorem from to demonstrate text appearances in almost any design, But it seems that with a lot of clients, in my experience, if you show them Lorem, they think you are replacing their content with gibberish. In a way, that is true. Since most clients wait till the last possible second to get you content (which is backwards but that is for another post) using generated text for blocking is the sort of standard in our industry. But they always try to read it.

Where does this come from

Like most things in the web design world, the usage of Lorem and its creation comes from print.

In publishing and graphic design, lorem ipsum is placeholder text (filler text) commonly used to demonstrate the graphic elements of a document or visual presentation, such as font, typography, and layout. The lorem ipsum text is typically a section of a Latin text by Cicero with words altered, added and removed that make it nonsensical in meaning and not proper Latin.

–wikipedia

So if we are going to use this archaic method for dummy text placement, does it all have to be the same? Not at all.

I submit to you these Four Fine websites that will help you generate text and amuse your clients while you do it.

For the Thug in You check out GANGSTA LOREM IPSUM
Although the site doesn’t work very well, the concept is amazing and I hope that this concept of meme-ing the lorem with other english coloquial dialects.

For the Literate check out FILLERATI
This is really a fascinating generator that pulls sentences words paragraphs and lists from books that are public domain such as A Princess of Mars.

For the Adventurer check out MALEVOLE
This simple generator is both humble and a surprise with what seems to be lines and lines of text all slapped into a single box from the mind of the author perhaps.

For the Company Man check out CORPORATE IPSUM
Sadly this widget is only for the mac owner but the concept is fetching an unique enough that you may not be going to far.

Let me know if you have some other great generators!

Best,

Zach

Hello random joy

There are times when the internet confounds me. I work as a freelance developer and often spend time surfing and surfing to find things to inspire me or make me more engaged with my own inner creative. Last week something happened that started normal and then suddenly spiralled into some genuine interaction leading me to new a bright future of endless influences.

The catalyst a short trip to cssmania.com for some clever inspiration led me to Mr. Dan Klammer’s personal portfolio http://danklammer.com/, which is captivating in its own right. After a couple of usual poking around examinations I really started to look at his site. Read content, see social icons, etc, and discovered a little link to 8tracks.com or more specifically to a mix he had posted on 8tracks. The mix was great and his followers also had profoundly good taste in music and so I proceded to listen to their work and made an account for myself.

Someone out there is snidely thinking, “Good job grandpa, you finally made into the mixtape digital age.” Shut your food hole mouth breather.

I really truly love this site, if for no other reason that its elegantly simple and utterly usable interface allows me to take the art nerd passion of Rob Gordon and share it with friends and family. The selfless nature of making things for other people (like mixtapes) is a great exercise and it can turn you on to all sorts of great artistry that you didn’t know was there.

Thank you internet for making me believe in the mystery and magic of information, again.

Best, Z

A note worthy leap in technology

Content management systems are as fickle as the communities that support them, and often their improvements reflect general trends in the user base, but not many of them have the courage to leap out of their comfort zone and evolve into something else.

WordPress’ Thelonoius update, is something interesting. The once playful attitude of the blog software turned semi-cms is now making a turn into a big new world. With addition of taxonomies, custom menus and now custom post types, the once blog synonymous system is looking like its fellow Opensource juggernaut Drupal.

Good things come to those who love to wait for great improvements. I hope that this upgrade doesn’t foreshadow a negative change in the WordPress community.

Z