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Lorem ipsum – dummy text, and images

During the process of creating a new webpage you focus on building a layout or a prototype which lines up how the content will appear. On that step in the way to a placeholder for content it is the overall look which is important, not the actual message included in text and images. One common way is to replace readable text with Latin text – Lorem ipsum. It is text which in the eye looks like text with meaning, but is actually non-sense text.

Lorem ipsum – the often used text

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod
tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam,
quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo
consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse
cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non
proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

The above text is used very often, it was produced in Sublime Text 2 editor, where you only have to type “Lorem”+[Tab] to get that text. What if you want to use other style than the latin variant? I have discovered that there exists many online web apps which allows you to create other funny variants. Here are some examples of them, which I found through a post “Got Bored Of Lorem Ipsum?” published on the great website “www.webresourcesdepot.com“.

Bacon Ipsum - http://baconipsum.com/

Bacon ipsum dolor sit amet biltong leberkas chicken filet mignon tail,
tongue meatloaf ball tip pancetta drumstick. Short ribs turducken cow,
corned beef ball tip tenderloin ground round hamburger sausage turkey
doner bacon chicken leberkas. Ham hock frankfurter tail jerky pork loin
pork tri-tip pork belly leberkas pig. Corned beef prosciutto salami pancetta,
venison flank tri-tip capicola ham hock tail cow beef hamburger.

SAMUEL L. IPSUM - http://slipsum.com/

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities
of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name
of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness,
for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those
who would attempt to poison and destroy My brothers.
And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon thee.

GAG IPSUM, the funny dummy text - http://gagipsum.com/

Gag ipsum dolar sit amet monday y u no grey alcohol the avengers. Le
me angry birds always dead cool german avenger drink computer feel
like a sir rebecca black. I See What You Did There male varius
anonymous yao viverra in mom brother. Read wodka facebook no really?
Pokeman in class strangers on back lose weekend men right. Keyboard
one does not simply woman phone face le derp unsave games nap gag
challenge accepted. Unlock note gentlemen le girlfriend close enough
not okay happy diablo 3 gasp luke morbi.

And now also “Dummy (!)”

Why stop there? That may have been the thought of the people about a website which delivers… dummy images: http://lorempixel.com/

You can specify size and optionally also a category where the dummy image should be picked from. The URL which will give you the dummy image is simple and you can easily use it as an API when you create you layouts.

Here is the syntax:

http://lorempixel.com/400/200/sports

First the URL: “http://lorempixel.com/” followed by the expected size of the image. In the case above it is 400 by 200 px. You may then also select from a set of categories, in this case “sports”. Other options exists, visit the site to see them.

Three examples of lorempixel images:

Sports image of 190 by 108 px
Sports image of 190 by 108 px with dummy text
Sports image of 190 by 108 px

A simpel image with text – “Dummyimage.com”

Another great site for getting dummy images of a specific size is dummyimage.com. I have used that a lot and it works fine for me. However sometimes I have seen a little slow response. You can also specify more advanced features through the URL, but basically the URL is:

http://dummyimage.com/190x108

Here are two examples:
specify aspect ratio 16:9 and wanted height 108
GIF, a background color, foreground color and text specified

So go ahead find your dummy content online using web apps out there!

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Cheap online image masking services: www.clippingimages.com, my first experience

A friend of mine has a webshop where she has a need to get a lot of images masked out from their background. Products which need to be view on the same background, so a masking process is run and you have the product free of background. It is a time consuming process which you simply do not have time to do on your own, if you as her and other webshop owners need to add images to your webshop product catalogue. She has been using many online masking service companies, and when she told me about www.clippingimages.com I was impressed with the service goals they offer!

The images

Here is information about one of the images:

image image image

What do you get?

I do not want to rewrite the whole offers from www.clippingimages.com here, you may instead visit the site and see the current prices and offers. At the time of writing however the price is around $5 for a image masked out. The speed of delivery is ofcause also a parameter, and in my case I recieved the images the same day (!) as I subitted them (3 images). I took the offer to get the first 3 jobs for free, so that I could evaluate the quality, that in it self is a great deal!

How does it work?

The process is going on through their webapplication (their homepage):

  • You create a free profile on their webpage
  • Uploade images
  • Specify how you want them back (PSD, TIFF or other) and how quick you need them
  • You recieve a quotation (price)
  • You accept and at pay using paypal (I guess, as I got my first 3 images for free)

The tests I did

  • The support is perfect
  • The masking is well, not 120%. It is ofcause better that I could have done it, but they are pros, it is a professionel service and I would expect it to be perfect. I know that am being very strict here, and I think that 98% of all users would find the result perfect.

I got 3 types of result, and tried to open them with

image image image
www.irfanview.com www.xara.com www.gimp.org
  • Irfanview wll only render the PSD files correctly, but remember that it is a free program.
Using masked images and Xara Designer Pro 6 you create things which normally only can be done in DTP programs, watch the text flowing around the images!

GIMP handles, not supricingly, the PSD version perfectly!

  • GIMP handles, not supricingly, the PSD version perfectly!

This is a TIFF version loaded into GIMP. The clipping path has been converted to a selection, inverted and cleared.

  • TIFF with clippingpath is also handlet perfectly
  • The JPEG with clippingpath however was not handled correctly.

Conclusion

My conclusion is that the masking service delivered by www.clippingimages.com is a superb service, delivered at a low cost, high quality and high speed. With prices starting at $2 per masked image and with a very responsive 24/7 service I will have no problem recommending them.

A litle comment

Even if I find the service superb, I cant help feeling a litle split in my mind. The reason is that the low price because of the low wages undermine the same services in my own contry. It is leading to people loosing there jobs. It is nothing new that this is happening and it is a natural thing, even so – I feel a litle sad for the people in my country who is loosing their job in this area.

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