Building a bilingual English and Arabic website: the right-to-left checklist

Layout

• Set the document direction with the HTML dir attribute and use logical CSS properties (start and end) instead of left and right so components mirror automatically. This is standard in our website design and development work.
• Mirror navigation, breadcrumbs, carousels and progress indicators. Do not mirror media controls, clocks or anything that represents physical direction.
• Check every component with long Arabic strings. Arabic text is often shorter in characters but taller in line height.

Typography

• Choose an Arabic typeface designed to pair with your Latin one, and test the two at the same visual size. Arabic usually needs a slightly larger size and looser line height.
• Avoid letter-spacing on Arabic. Letters connect, and spacing breaks the word shapes.
• Check bold and light weights exist for the Arabic face. Many families ship fewer weights.

Numbers, dates and icons

• Decide between Western digits and Eastern Arabic digits per market, and keep it consistent across the site, forms and emails.
• Phone numbers, prices and codes stay left-to-right inside right-to-left text. Use bidi isolation so they do not scramble.
• Arrows and directional icons flip; logos and brand marks do not.

Forms and validation

• Labels, placeholders, error messages and success messages all need Arabic versions.
• Input fields for phone numbers, emails and codes should stay left-to-right even on the Arabic site.
• Validation rules must accept Arabic names and addresses.

SEO for two languages

• Give each language its own URL: a subdirectory such as /ar/ is simplest to manage.
• Write Arabic titles and meta descriptions; do not translate them word for word.
• Add hreflang links between the English and Arabic versions of every page, including a default, as described in Google's guide to localized versions.
• Keep the sitemap listing both versions and structured data in the page's language.
• Research Arabic keywords separately and never redirect by IP or browser language. Our guide to Arabic SEO in Oman explains both.
• Add the Arabic version to llms.txt and any Markdown twins so answer engines see both.

Content workflow

Arabic websites in Oman

For companies in Oman, Arabic is usually needed from launch. See how we handle it on our web design in Muscat and website development in Oman pages. A second language also changes the budget: the ranges are in our guide to website cost in Oman, and the wider cost drivers are in website cost in the Gulf. When you compare agencies, ask for a live Arabic site, as our checklist for choosing a web development company in Oman explains.