RTL Done Right: Preparing WordPress for Arabic, Hebrew and Persian

Arabic alone has ~420 million speakers and some of the web’s least-served demand. Serving RTL languages well takes one attribute, one mindset shift, and one afternoon of testing.

What flips and what doesn’t

Text flow, margins, list bullets and float directions mirror. Numbers stay LTR inside RTL text (correct per Unicode). Logos, photos and video players don’t mirror. Directional icons (back arrows, “next” chevrons) should — that is the most common spot-fix.

Theme readiness

Themes built with logical properties (margin-inline-start) are RTL-ready by construction. Themes hardcoding left/right need a small rtl.css override — usually under 50 lines. Check your theme once with the browser dir attribute before committing to a market.

The market upside

Arabic-language content competition is a fraction of English’s while Gulf purchasing power is world-class — see Saudi Arabia and UAE guides. Hebrew and Persian audiences show the same underserved pattern.