Five common mistakes in Arabic store design

RTL is not a toggle. When a store is built in English first and then mirrored, problems appear that the developer misses but the customer feels. These are the five we see most.

1. Icons that should not flip

Navigation arrows should flip: a "next" arrow points left in Arabic. But clocks, social logos, and charts must stay as they are. Flipping them makes the interface look broken.

2. Numbers and currency

Numbers keep left-to-right order even inside Arabic text. The common mistake is letting the browser guess, so a price renders in the wrong order. Use explicit direction marks around numerals and currency.

3. Hard-coded spacing

Every margin-left in a stylesheet is a bug waiting to appear. Use logical properties: margin-inline-start works in both directions with no extra code.

4. The Arabic face as an afterthought

Many templates pick a beautiful Latin face then leave Arabic to a system font. The difference is glaring. Choose a balanced pairing from the start, and set Arabic line-height separately because it needs more vertical room.

5. Testing one direction only

Every component must be opened in both directions before it counts as done. Dropdowns, sliders, and modals are where things break silently.