Description
Dummy Text Generator is a lightweight WordPress plugin that lets you insert Lorem Ipsum placeholder text and dummy images into any post, page, or widget using simple shortcodes.
Perfect for theme developers, designers, and content editors who need realistic-looking placeholder content while building or testing a WordPress site.
Features:
- 📝 Insert Lorem Ipsum paragraphs with
[dummy-text] - 🔢 Control how many paragraphs to output with the
countattribute - 🖼️ Insert responsive placeholder images with
[dummy-image] - 📐 Set custom image width and height per shortcode
- 🎨 Choose your preferred image service (Lorem Picsum, Via Placeholder, Placehold.co)
- ⚙️ Configurable defaults via a clean Settings page (Settings Dummy Text Generator)
- 🧱 Output style option: plain paragraphs or HTML
<p>tags
Shortcodes:
[dummy-text]
Outputs the default number of Lorem Ipsum paragraphs (set in Settings).
[dummy-text count="5"]
Outputs exactly 5 Lorem Ipsum paragraphs. Accepts any value from 1 to 20.
[dummy-image]
Inserts a placeholder image at your default width and height.
[dummy-image width="600" height="300"]
Inserts a placeholder image at a custom size.
[dummy-image width="800" height="450" seed="42" alt="My placeholder" class="my-class"]
Full control: fixed photo seed (Picsum), custom alt text, and a CSS class.
Image Services:
- Lorem Picsum (default) — Beautiful real photography from picsum.photos
- Via Placeholder — Simple solid-colour blocks from via.placeholder.com
- Placehold.co — Clean labelled placeholders from placehold.co
Installation
- Download the plugin zip file.
- Go to Plugins Add New Upload Plugin in your WordPress dashboard.
- Upload
dummy-text-generator.zipand click Install Now. - Click Activate Plugin.
- Go to Settings Dummy Text Generator to configure your defaults.
- Add
[dummy-text]or[dummy-image]to any post or page.
Manual installation:
- Upload the
dummy-text-generatorfolder to/wp-content/plugins/. - Activate the plugin via the Plugins menu in WordPress.
FAQ
-
What shortcodes are available?
-
Two shortcodes are included:
[dummy-text]— inserts Lorem Ipsum text paragraphs[dummy-image]— inserts a responsive placeholder image
-
Can I control the number of paragraphs?
-
Yes. Use the
countattribute:[dummy-text count="4"]. You can also set a global default in Settings Dummy Text Generator. -
Can I control the image size?
-
Yes. Use
widthandheightattributes:[dummy-image width="1200" height="600"]. Global defaults can be set in the plugin settings page. -
Which image services are supported?
-
Lorem Picsum (real photos), Via Placeholder (solid blocks), and Placehold.co (labelled placeholders). Switch between them in the Settings page — no shortcode changes needed.
-
Is this plugin compatible with the Block Editor (Gutenberg)?
-
Yes. Add a Shortcode block and paste in
[dummy-text]or[dummy-image]— it works exactly the same as in the Classic Editor. -
Will this plugin slow down my site?
-
No. The plugin has no front-end scripts or stylesheets. All output is static HTML generated at render time.
Reviews
Contributors & Developers
“Dummy Text Generator” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Dummy Text Generator” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
3.0
- NEW:
[dummy-image]shortcode withwidth,height,seed,alt, andclassattributes - NEW:
countattribute on[dummy-text]to control paragraph output - NEW: Support for three placeholder image services (Picsum, Via Placeholder, Placehold.co)
- NEW: Text output style option — plain text or
<p>-wrapped HTML - NEW: Admin Settings page (Settings Dummy Text Generator) for global defaults
- IMPROVED: Plugin structure hardened with
ABSPATHcheck and input sanitisation
2.2
- Initial public release with basic
[dummy-text]shortcode