When designing websites, images-to-be-used usually doesn't exist at first as 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.

{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

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.

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