In the previous #pragmaticcomputingtip, entitled “automatic random text generation. improved?” I shared a nifty little feature in Word 2007 and 2010 which automated the generation of random text.
Check it out and then come on back and I’ll walk you through you a variation.
no. really. check it out. I’ll wait.
okay, welcome back.
While =rand(p,s) is effective and fun, its use has a potential problem. It generates interesting text. Okay, “interesting” is debatable, but it generates English text that makes sense, which means there’s a potential for distraction.
If you don’t want your reader/learner/audience to focus on the content of your text, there’s another, similar feature that generates nonsensical random text that will keep people focused on the form of your document/website without tempting anyone to read for content absorption. Try this:
Open either Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010 and, at the top of a new, blank document, type:
=lorem(8,5)
Then press the enter key.
Like I said. Nonsensical text.
Microsoft generated 8 paragraphs, each 5 sentences long, of Latin-esque text. Many of us have seen this used as placeholder text in the past:
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est.
Vivamus a tellus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem.”
I always lose interest after “Lorem ipsum” so, if I’m looking to generate uninteresting content, mission accomplished.
pragmaticcomputingtips.com 