How to set Arabic or Hebrew text in a page layout

You can type, paste or import Arabic and Hebrew straight into Layout by Zaweba and it lays them out right to left. It uses the Unicode bidirectional algorithm to order mixed Hebrew, Arabic, Latin and numbers correctly, joins Arabic letters using the font's own OpenType features, keeps vowel marks in place, justifies with kashida, offers several digit shapes and supports right-to-left story direction and tables.

Right-to-left text is where many layout programs quietly fall down, with letters that don't join, punctuation on the wrong side and numbers in the wrong order. Layout treats it as a first-class part of typesetting rather than an afterthought.

The groundwork

Start with a good font. Arabic in particular depends on the font for its letter joining, and Layout takes the joining forms from the font's OpenType features. A font designed for Arabic text, with proper support for the joining and the marks, gives the best result. The same applies to Hebrew if you need pointed text with vowel marks.

Set the story direction to right to left for a document or a story that is mainly in Arabic or Hebrew. That sets the natural flow of paragraphs, so alignment and indents behave the way a reader of those languages expects. Paragraphs can be right to left individually too, which helps in a mostly English document with an Arabic quotation or a Hebrew name list.

Mixed text and numbers

Real documents mix scripts. A Hebrew paragraph may contain an English product name and a phone number. An Arabic report may quote figures and dates. The bidirectional algorithm sorts this out: runs of Latin text and numbers read left to right inside the right-to-left line, and brackets are mirrored so they open and close the right way round. You type the text in logical order and Layout handles the display.

Digit shapes are a choice rather than a fixed rule, and Layout gives you Western, Arabic-Indic, Persian and native options. Which to use depends on the audience and the house style. Agree it at the start of a job and set it in your paragraph styles so every figure in the document matches.

Justification and fine detail

Justified Arabic text looks wrong if the spacing comes only from widening the gaps between words. Kashida justification stretches the joining strokes inside words instead, which is the traditional way to fill a line and much easier on the eye. Layout supports it, so justified columns of Arabic can look as settled as a well set book.

Vowel marks sit above and below the letters and must stay attached to the right one. Layout keeps them in position as the text reflows, which matters in religious texts, children's books and language-learning material where marks are common.

Tables and layouts that read from the right

A right-to-left document often needs tables that read from the right too, so the first column is on the right-hand side. Layout supports right-to-left tables for this. Combined with right-to-left stories, it means price lists, timetables and reports can be laid out naturally rather than mirrored by hand.

Think about the whole page as well. A book read right to left binds on the other side, so the spread runs the other way. Plan the page order and any spreads across the spine with that in mind before placing pictures.

Checking your work

Proofread with a fluent reader whenever you can, because a layout can be technically correct and still break a word at an awkward point or place a number where a reader wouldn't expect it. Live preflight helps with the mechanical side, including missing glyphs, which catches a font that lacks a character you have used.

Once the fonts, direction, digits and styles are settled in a template, the next Arabic or Hebrew job starts from a sound base, and most of the care you put into the first one carries straight across.