When designing websites, images-to-be-used usually doesn’t exist at firstas it is the layout that matters the most.
However, the sizes for the images are usually pre-set and inserting some placeholder images help us better seeing/analyzing the layout.
Rather than creating these placeholder images manually, there are free to use services which can automate the process and save us time.
Here is a list of 8 free placeholder image services for instant dummy images:
Flickholdr
As the name tells it, Flickrholdr fetches images from the huge database of Flickr.
Besides the size of the images, it is possible to mention tags in the URL which is great for using related images in each spot.
Placehold.it
The service is full-featured with the ability to mention sizes, image format (.gif, .jpg, .png) and can also display text.
The size of the images generated are displayed on them as well.
lorempixum
lorempixum is an awesome free service where you can generate images in any size and almost in any category (like sports, food, people, etc.).
You can also select to get color or grayscale photos.
{placekitten}
Placekitten is thematic placeholder service that can display any size of kitten images.
There is also a jQuery plugin for dynamically changing any or all of your images to placeholder kittens with just a single line of code.
Dynamic Dummy Image Generator
.gif)
DummyImage.com is a placeholder generator with a huge set of customization options including size, colors, text, multiple file types and preset sizes.
And, it is an open source script.
nosrc.net
A simple generator where you can only define the width and height. Also, the source of the script is shared as well.
FPOImg.com
Again a simple service where you can mention a text to be displayed besides the sizes.
IpsumImage
IpsumImage is a Google App Engine hosted, open source placeholder service (built with Python).
It is possible to customize the sizes, background-foreground colors and text to be displayed.
lowersrc
The service follows a different approach than others and requires a JavaScript to be installed and works without defining "image sources" but simply adding a specific class to each.
Other than sizes, colors and text, you can also set whether the image will be rectangle or a circle.
Bonus! – flickrBomb (a jQuery plugin)
A simple and smart solution for getting images of any size from Flickr.
Just insert this jQuery plugin to your web pages and call the image in aformat like:
<img src="flickr://Kevin Bacon" width="175px" height="175px">
and get an image of the mentioned size + subject.