Bidirectional Text: Do & Don't
Practical guidance for working with bidirectional text in Arabic typography and digital layouts.
Base Direction
Set the base direction to match the primary language. An Arabic paragraph with some English words should be RTL.
Let the first character decide direction. Starting with an English word makes the whole sentence flip to LTR.
Embedded Brand Names
Treat English brand names as isolated units. They read left-to-right internally while Arabic flows around them naturally.
Break up brand names or let them merge into the Arabic flow. The words can reorder and become unreadable.
Punctuation
Place punctuation marks according to the sentence's base direction. Arabic punctuation stays with the Arabic flow.
Mix Latin punctuation habits into Arabic text. Question marks and exclamation points can appear on the wrong side.
Parentheses and Brackets
Use parentheses that follow the reading direction. In RTL, the opening parenthesis visually appears on the right.
Manually flip parentheses or ignore their behavior. In mixed content, parentheses can reverse and wrap the wrong words.