Right-to-Left: What UK Businesses Need to Know About Arabic Document and Website Translation

Key Takeaways

• Arabic is written right to left. This affects every formatted output: documents, brochures, packaging, websites, software interfaces, and video subtitles. Translation alone is not sufficient. The entire layout must be mirrored.
• A UK business that translates marketing copy into Arabic and drops it into an English layout will produce an unusable document. RTL layout handling is a separate, essential step.
• Arabic text typically expands by 20 to 30 per cent relative to English. Combined with the RTL requirement, formatted documents need significant rework, not just a text swap.
• Websites and digital interfaces require RTL CSS and RTL-compatible font rendering. This is a development requirement, not just a design one.
• Not all fonts support Arabic script. Choosing an inappropriate font produces unreadable or incorrectly rendered Arabic text. Font selection is part of the typesetting work.
• Planning for Arabic from the start of a design project is significantly more efficient than retrofitting a finished English layout.

Arabic presents a layout challenge that no other major language pair for UK businesses involves: it runs right to left. This is not simply a typographical detail. It affects the entire visual structure of every document, website, interface, and designed output that includes Arabic text.

UK businesses that do not account for this at the design stage end up either with unusable Arabic materials or with expensive rework after the English version is already finalised. This guide explains exactly what RTL means in practice, which output types are affected, and how to plan for it efficiently.

What Right-to-Left Means in Practice

In Arabic, text flows from right to left. This means:

• Lines of text start at the right margin and end at the left
• Paragraphs are right-aligned by default
• The reading direction of a page or screen is from right to left
• The spine of a physical book or brochure is on the right side, not the left
• Navigation in a website or app runs from right to left
• Tables and data layouts are mirrored

When a document or interface is designed for English and then Arabic text is inserted without layout adjustment, the result is visually broken. Arabic text in a left-aligned English layout reads awkwardly at best and is entirely disorienting for native Arabic readers at worst. It signals immediately that the content was not produced by someone with knowledge of Arabic.

Numbers in Arabic Text

A common source of confusion for UK businesses is the treatment of numbers in Arabic documents.

Standard written Arabic in most of the Arab world today uses Western Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3) for most purposes, including business documents, product specifications, and websites. These are the same numerals used in English.

However, Arabic-Indic numerals (٠، ١، ٢، ٣، ٤، ٥، ٦، ٧، ٨، ٩) are also in use, particularly in official government documents in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other countries. These look different from Western numerals and appear in some official stamps, dates, and administrative records.

Regardless of which numeral set is used, numbers in Arabic text run left to right within the overall right-to-left text flow. A number like 2026 still reads as 2026 in a right-to-left paragraph. This bidirectionality is handled automatically by correct Arabic typesetting but can produce rendering errors in software that does not properly support bidirectional text.

Arabic in Printed Documents and Brochures

For UK businesses producing printed materials in Arabic. Whether brochures, product sheets, catalogues, packaging, or reports. The entire document layout must be redesigned in mirror image.

What this means in practice:

• Text boxes are repositioned to the right side of the layout
• Images that were on the left of a text block move to the right, and vice versa
• Page numbers, headers, and footers are repositioned
• Icons and arrows that indicate direction are mirrored
• Charts and tables with text labels are mirrored
• The overall reading flow of a multi-page document runs from right to left (the last page of an English document is effectively the first page of the Arabic version in terms of binding)

Text expansion. Arabic text translated from English typically expands by 20 to 30 per cent. A brochure page that accommodates a given amount of English text will not fit the Arabic equivalent without adjustment. Combined with the full layout mirror, Arabic versions of designed documents require significant DTP work beyond simple text replacement.

Font selection. Not all fonts include Arabic character support. Using a font without Arabic support produces garbled or missing characters. Arabic fonts designed for professional use render the script correctly, including the ligature connections between letters that are a structural feature of Arabic script. For branded materials, a font family that includes both Latin and Arabic weights ensures visual consistency between language versions.

InDesign and professional layout software. Adobe InDesign supports RTL text through its World-Ready Composer setting, which must be enabled for Arabic text to render correctly. Failing to enable this setting produces Arabic text that looks approximately right but contains ligature errors that are immediately apparent to Arabic readers. Our DTP team handles RTL InDesign work as standard on all Arabic document projects.

Arabic on Websites and Digital Interfaces

A website or application for an Arabic-speaking audience requires RTL implementation at the code level, not just in the design.

CSS direction property. The fundamental requirement for an Arabic website is setting direction: rtl on the page or on specific elements. This reverses the text flow and the layout direction. Combined with appropriate text-align properties, this produces correctly flowing Arabic text. However, it also affects all layout elements that depend on text direction, including navigation menus, dropdown lists, form fields, and modal dialogs.

Mirrored layout. On a correctly implemented RTL website, the entire layout is mirrored. Navigation is on the right. The primary content column is on the right. Sidebar content is on the left. Icons that indicate forward/backward navigation point in the opposite direction from their LTR equivalents. This is not automatic from CSS direction alone; it requires deliberate layout mirroring.

Bidirectional text. Web pages that mix Arabic and English text, such as a product page that includes both an Arabic product description and an English brand name, require careful bidirectional text handling. The HTML dir attribute and Unicode bidirectional control characters manage text direction at the element level.

Font rendering. Web fonts used for Arabic must support Arabic Unicode character ranges. Arabic text rendered in a font without Arabic support displays as boxes or incorrect characters. A web font stack for an Arabic page must include Arabic-capable fonts as the first or only choice.

Forms and inputs. Form fields on Arabic pages should be right-aligned by default, with placeholder text in Arabic. Cursor behaviour in RTL text inputs differs from LTR, and some older browsers and input implementations handle this inconsistently.

Arabic Packaging and Labelling

Products sold in GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman) must carry Arabic-language labelling. RTL requirements apply to all Arabic text on packaging. For packaging design, this means:

• Arabic and English text panels are distinct and separately laid out
• Arabic text panels follow RTL conventions independently
• Bilingual panels that mix Arabic and English require careful alignment so both languages are readable in their respective directions
• Mandatory regulatory information in Arabic (ingredient lists, allergen declarations, nutritional information) must meet the labelling standards of the target GCC country

Packaging that places Arabic text in an English-style left-aligned layout, or that uses a font without proper Arabic support, will not pass retail compliance review in GCC markets.

Planning for Arabic from the Start

The most common and most costly mistake in Arabic translation projects is treating RTL layout as an afterthought. A business that finalises its English brochure, then translates it into Arabic, then discovers the layout needs to be entirely mirrored, has produced twice as much design work as necessary.

The efficient approach is to brief the RTL requirement at the design stage. A layout produced with Arabic in mind from the start can be structured so that the RTL version is a true mirror of the English version, with consistent visual language, rather than a reworked adaptation. This is particularly important for packaging and product documentation that will be manufactured in both English and Arabic versions.

Global LTS provides Arabic translation with full RTL typesetting and DTP for UK businesses. We handle Arabic in InDesign, Word, PDF, HTML, and all major file formats, and our in-house DTP team manages the layout work as part of every Arabic project.

Contact us for a free quote, or see our Arabic translation services page for more information.