Building an Arabic & English Website the Right Way

01 / 04

Why one language may not be enough

If your customers are in the Arab world, many of them prefer to read about your business in Arabic — and if you also serve international clients, they need English. A bilingual website lets both feel the site was made for them, instead of making one group work harder.

02 / 04

Right-to-left is a layout, not a setting

Arabic is read from right to left, so the whole page should mirror: the logo moves to the right, navigation flows from right to left, arrows point the other way and text aligns to the right. Simply translating the words inside a left-to-right layout makes the page feel broken to Arabic readers.

Modern CSS makes this much easier when the site is built with it in mind from the start — using logical spacing (start and end instead of left and right) so one design serves both directions.

• Set the page language and direction correctly for each version.
• Mirror layouts, icons and arrows that imply direction.
• Keep numbers, phone numbers, emails and code reading left to right.
• Choose an Arabic font that pairs well with the English one.

03 / 04

Typography and content

Arabic letters are taller and connected, so headings and paragraphs often need slightly different sizes and line heights to stay comfortable to read. A font that looks elegant in English can look awkward next to the wrong Arabic font.

Translate meaning, not word by word. Marketing lines in particular should be rewritten so they sound natural in Arabic.

04 / 04

Make switching effortless

Visitors should be able to switch language from any page with one click — and land on the same page in the other language, not back on the homepage. Each language version should also have its own address so search engines can show the right one to the right person.