Examining documentation and help systems since 2002.
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Gordon R. Meyer
Copyright 2002-2008
Lorem ipsum saywhat?
Most writers know that so-called "greeking" is commonly used as text placeholder when designing pages or web sites. And, of course, designers know this as well. But if you're producing a design-savvy word processing application for the average computer user, should you use latin-like placeholder text in the default templates? Apple does so in its Pages application, and although I don't know exactly why, I can guess that it reduces the localization of the templates, doesn't detract from the beauty of the templates by inserting distracting text, and (one might argue) elevates the user's exposure to professional design practices. All of these are great goals, even if I'm only making them up, but they seemingly have an unintended consequence, too. In a support article, users are reassured that the gibberish is intentional.
If your application uses default text, or even data values, is it possible that their presence might confuse customers? It's something to keep in mind.
Posted: Saturday, July 7, 2007 link to this item, respond to this item