Why designers still use placeholder Latin
Lorem Ipsum has been the standard filler text for mockups since the desktop-publishing era specifically because it looks like real text at a glance - believable word lengths and sentence rhythm - without any actual meaning to distract a client or reviewer from judging the layout itself. Swapping in real copy too early tends to pull feedback toward wording instead of spacing, type size and hierarchy, which is usually not what's being tested yet.
Choosing between words, sentences, and paragraphs
Generating by word count gives precise control for testing a specific space-constrained element, like a button label or a short card description. Sentences suit a medium block like a pull quote or summary. Paragraphs are the standard choice for testing full body-text layout, line height, and paragraph spacing across a realistic amount of content.
Why the classic opening line is optional
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..." is the most recognizable opening and signals clearly to anyone reviewing the mockup that this is placeholder text, not a content mistake. Turning it off produces fully randomized text from the same word pool instead, useful when you want filler that doesn't immediately read as the instantly-recognizable standard opening.
Why there's an option to wrap paragraphs in <p> tags
When testing a layout directly in HTML rather than a design tool, pasting plain text without paragraph tags means the browser collapses it into one untagged block instead of separate paragraphs. Turning this option on wraps each generated paragraph in its own <p>...</p>, so the output can be pasted straight into a page's markup and keep its paragraph structure - it only applies when generating paragraphs, since words and sentences aren't paragraph-level content.
Where the actual words come from
The word pool is scrambled, modified Latin derived from a 1st-century BC text by Cicero - genuine Latin vocabulary, but rearranged into a form that was never meant to translate into coherent sentences, which is exactly the property that makes it read as plausible-looking text without carrying any actual meaning.