Background
I'm Dulanga Sashika, a software engineer with more than ten years of industry experience. Most of that time has been spent on architecture and system design - deciding how the pieces of a product fit together, and living with those decisions long enough to learn which ones were wrong.
I build under the name Ashika Labs, which is my own venture rather than an agency or a team. Lorem Genius is one of the tools I've built there. I'm also an AI enthusiast, and a fair amount of my current work sits at the intersection of applied AI and everyday developer tooling.
I decide what gets written about on this site, and I review every word of it before it goes out. The subject matter comes out of ordinary practice: placeholder text is one of those small, unglamorous parts of building software that almost every designer and developer touches, and almost nobody writes about carefully. Ten years of shipping interfaces gives you a fairly concrete sense of where placeholder content helps, where it quietly causes problems, and which mistakes keep recurring.
Editorial process
How this content is produced
Every article here starts with a topic I have run into in practice. I draft with AI assistance, then edit, fact-check, and rewrite until the piece reflects how I would actually explain it to another engineer. Posts are revised when the underlying advice changes, and any factual claim that can be checked - dates, standards, tooling behaviour - is verified against a primary source before publication. I review everything before it publishes and stand behind what is here. There is no sponsored or syndicated content on this site.
18 articles
September 29, 2026 · 9 min read
Does Lorem Ipsum Look Like English? We Measured It
The standard claim is that Lorem Ipsum mimics the look of English. We measured word length, letter frequency, glyph coverage and rendered width against 155,000 words of real English. Some of the claim holds up. Some of it doesn't.
March 7, 2026 · 11 min read
Lorem Ipsum Generators Compared (2026): Tested, With a Guide to Choosing
We opened the most used Lorem Ipsum generators and recorded what each one actually offers: text styles, units, formats, and whether it generates in your browser or on a server. Plus how to choose by where the text has to land.
February 14, 2026 · 10 min read
Internationalization and Placeholder Text (Multi-Language UX)
Short UI strings can need two to three times their English length once translated, not the 30% usually quoted. How to size test text by string length, a working pseudo-localization function, and how to test RTL and CJK layouts.
February 7, 2026 · 9 min read
Using Placeholder Text in Design Systems
Discover how to integrate placeholder text into scalable design systems. Learn about content tokens, component documentation, consistency standards, and developer handoff best practices.
January 31, 2026 · 8 min read
How Placeholder Text Affects User Testing Results
Placeholder text doesn't just make a usability test less realistic. It changes which task you're measuring, often without anyone noticing. How that happens, which content has to be real, and how to check the effect in your own tests.
January 24, 2026 · 7 min read
Lorem Ipsum for Wireframes vs High-Fidelity Mockups
Learn how placeholder text requirements differ between early wireframes and polished mockups, and how to communicate expectations at each design stage.
January 17, 2026 · 8 min read
Best Practices for Placeholder Text in Landing Pages
Learn how to use placeholder text strategically in landing page design to maintain clarity, build trust, and optimize conversions without compromising messaging hierarchy.
January 10, 2026 · 9 min read
Balance and Moderation: The Art of Using Placeholder Text Wisely
Learn how to strike the perfect balance with placeholder text. Understand cognitive load, avoid layout distortion, and optimize user testing with practical rules of thumb and design heuristics.
January 3, 2026 · 8 min read
Common Mistakes Designers Make with Placeholder Text
Seven placeholder text mistakes that make layouts lie: designing to the average, sizing with themed text, finalising leading in Latin, Latin in the accessibility layer, and more. Each with a concrete check you can run.
December 27, 2025 · 7 min read
Lorem Ipsum vs Real Content: When to Use Each
Learn when to use placeholder text and when real content is essential. A practical guide for designers, developers, and product managers.
December 24, 2025 · 11 min read
Placeholder Text and Accessibility: WCAG, Contrast and Screen Readers
Latin in a paragraph is harmless; Latin in an alt attribute or a form label is a defect. The WCAG criteria placeholder text runs into, measured contrast for real placeholder colours (including the Tailwind v4 default), and how to keep it from shipping.
December 24, 2025 · 9 min read
Why Designers Still Use Lorem Ipsum, Even With AI
Lorem Ipsum solves an attention problem, not a scheduling one, which is why AI-written drafts have not replaced it. What it is good for, where it misleads, and how its texture compares with real English.
December 23, 2025 · 9 min read
Best Placeholder Text Alternatives to Lorem Ipsum
Discover creative alternatives to traditional Lorem Ipsum text that can add personality to your design mockups and prototypes.
December 23, 2025 · 10 min read
How to Use Lorem Ipsum in Web Development Projects
A practical guide for developers on effectively using Lorem Ipsum text in web development projects, from prototyping to production.
December 22, 2025 · 10 min read
What Is Lorem Ipsum? Its Meaning, Source and Real History
Lorem Ipsum is scrambled Cicero, but the famous "used since the 1500s" date was a guess, and the man who made it has said so. What the text means, where it really comes from, and what the evidence actually supports.
December 22, 2025 · 10 min read
Typography Testing with Placeholder Text: A Designer's Guide
Learn how to effectively use placeholder text to test and refine typography in your design projects for better readability and visual appeal.
December 21, 2025 · 10 min read
How to Present Designs with Placeholder Text to Clients
Tips and strategies for effectively presenting design mockups with Lorem Ipsum to clients without causing confusion.
December 21, 2025 · 10 min read
Using Placeholder Text Effectively in Mobile App Design
Best practices for using Lorem Ipsum and placeholder text in mobile app UI/UX design, from prototyping to user testing.
