Building one product in English, French and Arabic.

Right to left is a whole layout

In Arabic, the whole interface mirrors: navigation, menus, arrows that mean “next”, progress bars and the order of columns. Simply right-aligning the text leaves a layout that feels backwards to Arabic readers.

Some things should not flip. Phone numbers, prices, product codes and logos keep their direction, and an Arabic sentence that contains English brand names needs care so the words appear in the right order. Building with layout rules that follow the text direction makes this far easier than fixing it later.

Choose fonts for each script

A font that looks great in English may have no Arabic letters at all, and the browser will then pick a fallback that does not match your brand. Choose a type family with a well-designed Arabic version, or pair two fonts that sit well together.

Arabic often needs a slightly larger size and more line spacing to stay readable. French words are longer than English ones on average, so buttons and menus need room to grow. Test real text in every language, not placeholder text.

Write for the reader, not the dictionary

Word-for-word translation produces text that is technically correct and sounds wrong. A tagline that works in English may need a completely different line in French or Arabic. Give translators context: who the reader is, where the text appears and how much space it has.

Decide which register of Arabic suits each part of the product. Modern Standard Arabic is usual for formal pages, while marketing and social content may use a lighter, more local tone. Ask a native speaker to review the final text in place, on the real screens.

Help people and search engines find the right version

Give each language its own address, such as /en, /fr and /ar, let users switch language from any page without losing their place, and tell search engines that the pages are translations of each other. Remember dates, numbers and currencies too: their format changes with the language and the country.