German filler text for layout testing: compound words with nowhere to break and labels that grow by a third. Everything runs in your browser — no text is sent anywhere.
Nothing is sent to a server — the text is assembled in your browser
Tag wird Auftragsbestätigung Abend an Bestellübersicht Fußgängerübergang, es Gebrauchsanweisung selbst Freund. Er Müller er Datenschutz singen nächste Bahnhofsvorplatz mit Geist Startseite Hand, Angst König. Unter alle beginnen spät des Benutzerkonto Wald Tisch Anwendungsfall Zusammenarbeit Wahrheit am Bearbeitung Fußgängerübergang. Recht Naturwissenschaft schön speichern Herz, Sonne Jäger Geisteswissenschaft Zugriffsberechtigung.
Arbeit eine kalt schwer warten lesen den fragen liegen ein an Tür Datenschutzeinstellungen schon. Fahren dort Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versandkosten bleiben oder trotzdem Bahnhofsvorplatz hier. Suchergebnisse leer sagen der Ansprechpartner Bearbeitungszeit beenden. Wieder es Vogel gehen Sache Blatt Wind alt.
Himmel beginnen Hund langsam grün, Angst Anwendung Einstellungen Mutter Jahr. Geisteswissenschaft Verfügbarkeit Frühling voll Frau Verwaltungsaufgabe Berg, rufen unmöglich Naturwissenschaft. Arbeiten man Zahlungsbestätigung Schneider zu bleiben bleiben einfach. Neu Haus Lieferadresse vielleicht schwierig ihr Frucht kaufen Monat durch, gut Wirtschaftsprüfung.
02
Long-word stress test
Drop a compound word into fixed-width containers and watch which one gives up first. The widths are the usual suspects: a button, a menu item, a card heading, breadcrumbs.
Word length26
Button · 150pxfits
Benutzerkontoeinstellungen
Menu item · 200pxfits
Benutzerkontoeinstellungen
Card heading · 260pxfits
Benutzerkontoeinstellungen
Breadcrumbs · 320pxfits
Benutzerkontoeinstellungen
Without the language attribute hyphenation does nothing: the browser has no dictionary to break the word with, and it spills out of the container.
03
Worst-case strings
Ready-to-copy strings that break a German layout first.
Hyphenated compound: the only point a browser will break on its own
Benutzerkontoeinstellungen
26
A menu item that will not fit a sidebar
Einstellungen
13
A typical button: 62 % longer than English Settings
Speichern
9
An action button: 125 % longer than English Save
04
What breaks
01
Compounds have nowhere to break
The browser does not know where to split «Benutzerkontoeinstellungen», so it either lets the word escape the container or stretches the line to fit. The fix is `hyphens: auto` together with `lang="de"` — without the language attribute there is no hyphenation dictionary and the property does nothing at all.
02
Buttons designed for English overflow
Four-letter «Save» becomes nine-letter «Speichern»; eight-letter «Settings» becomes thirteen-letter «Einstellungen». A fixed-width button either truncates the label or breaks the layout around it.
03
Capital ß behaves inconsistently
Until 2017 uppercasing «ß» produced «SS», changing the length of the string. The capital «ẞ» is now official, but font support is uneven and `text-transform: uppercase` differs across browsers. If your design uses uppercase labels, test this specific case instead of assuming.
04
Uppercase umlauts are taller than lowercase
«ÄÖÜ» need room above the cap height. With tight line height the diacritics get clipped or collide with the line above — something the same layout never shows on English text.
05
Tables suffer the most
A column sized around English content drags its neighbours when German arrives: a single long word sets the minimum width for the whole column, so the table either scrolls horizontally or squeezes everything else into unreadability.
Fonts
Latin with umlauts is covered nearly everywhere, so coverage is not the issue — metrics are. Narrow grotesques make long compounds harder to read. For an interface with German, budget 10–15 % more horizontal space rather than shrinking the type.
05
Frequently asked questions
Because German builds compound nouns instead of using several words. English «user account settings» becomes one word, «Benutzerkontoeinstellungen». Across an interface the average growth is 30–35 %, and on short labels it is far worse: «Save» becomes «Speichern», a jump of 125 % on the busiest button in most products.
Generate German filler at the same volume as your real content and put the longest compounds into the tightest places: buttons, menu items, table headers, breadcrumbs. Fixed-width containers designed around English will overflow first. The stress test on this page substitutes compounds of increasing length so you can see exactly where a container gives up.
Because hyphenation needs the language declared. `hyphens: auto` alone does nothing — the browser has no dictionary to apply until the element carries `lang="de"`. This is the single most common cause of German compounds spilling out of their containers, and it is fixed by one attribute.
The often-cited «Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz», 63 letters, was a real law repealed in 2013. It is an extreme case, but everyday interface German regularly produces words of 25–40 letters, which is already enough to break most layouts built for English.
It historically became «SS», changing the length of the string. Since 2017 the capital «ẞ» is officially permitted, but font support is uneven and `text-transform: uppercase` behaves differently across browsers. If your design uses uppercase labels, test this specific case rather than assuming it works.
No. Words are assembled in your browser from a built-in dictionary, and nothing is transmitted. The page keeps working with the network disconnected, and no generated fragment ever leaves your device.