| name | hebrew-rtl-best-practices |
| description | Implement right-to-left (RTL) layouts for Hebrew web applications. Use when user asks about RTL layout, Hebrew text direction, bidirectional (bidi) text, Hebrew CSS, "right to left", or needs to build a Hebrew web UI. Covers CSS logical properties, the :dir() pseudo-class, Tailwind RTL, React/Next.js RTL setup, icon mirroring, Hebrew typography, and font selection. Do NOT use for Arabic RTL (similar but different typography) unless user explicitly asks for shared RTL patterns, or for native mobile RTL (React Native I18nManager, SwiftUI, Android) which is out of scope. |
| license | MIT |
| compatibility | Works with Claude Code, Claude.ai, Cursor. No network required. |
Hebrew RTL Best Practices
Instructions
Step 1: Set Up Document Direction
Always start with the HTML attribute (not just CSS):
<html lang="he" dir="rtl">
This tells browsers, screen readers, and CSS to use RTL as the base direction.
Step 2: Use CSS Logical Properties
NEVER use physical directional properties for layout:
| Physical (avoid) | Logical (use) |
|---|
margin-left | margin-inline-start |
margin-right | margin-inline-end |
padding-left | padding-inline-start |
padding-right | padding-inline-end |
border-left | border-inline-start |
text-align: left | text-align: start |
text-align: right | text-align: end |
float: left | float: inline-start |
left: 10px | inset-inline-start: 10px |
This ensures the layout automatically mirrors in RTL mode.
When you genuinely need a direction-specific rule that logical properties cannot express, prefer the :dir() pseudo-class over [dir="rtl"] attribute selectors:
.chevron:dir(rtl) { transform: scaleX(-1); }
[dir="rtl"] .chevron { transform: scaleX(-1); }
:dir() is part of Selectors Level 4 and resolves the computed direction, so it also works for elements whose direction comes from dir="auto" or from an ancestor, where an attribute selector would miss them. Browser support: Chrome and Edge shipped it in version 120 (late 2023), Firefox has supported it for years, and Safari added it in 16.4, so it is now Baseline (widely available). For older-browser support, keep an [dir="rtl"] fallback rule or use a logical property instead. Check current support at https://caniuse.com/css-dir-pseudo.
Step 3: Handle Bidirectional Text
When mixing Hebrew and English/numbers:
.ltr-content {
unicode-bidi: isolate;
direction: ltr;
}
.bidi-override {
unicode-bidi: bidi-override;
}
Common bidi issues:
- Phone numbers appearing reversed: Wrap in
<bdo dir="ltr">
- Punctuation at wrong end of sentence: Use
unicode-bidi: isolate
- URLs/emails in Hebrew text: Wrap in
<span dir="ltr">
Numbers and dates: Standalone numbers and DD/MM/YYYY dates inside Hebrew text usually render fine because digits are weak-LTR, but a number that is immediately followed by a sign, currency, or a second number can flip. When a value must keep a fixed visual order, isolate it with <span dir="ltr"> or unicode-bidi: isolate rather than trusting the default bidi resolution.
Format the value, then isolate it. Bidi isolation only stops a correct string from flipping; it does not produce the right string. Use Intl to format, then isolate: Intl.NumberFormat('he-IL', { style: 'currency', currency: 'ILS' }) for shekel amounts and Intl.DateTimeFormat('he-IL') for dates, and wrap the output in <span dir="ltr"> (or unicode-bidi: isolate) if it sits inline in Hebrew prose. Devs commonly conflate the two and apply bidi fixes to a formatting bug (or vice versa).
Form inputs need dir="auto". Put dir="auto" on every <input> and <textarea> so each value resolves its own base direction. This is the most visible end-user RTL bug: an email or an English word typed into a Hebrew form jumps to the wrong side without it. Note that the placeholder does not trigger auto-detection, so set the resting direction with CSS if the empty-field look matters.
<bdi> vs <bdo>: use <bdo dir="ltr"> only when you want to force a direction (it overrides the bidi algorithm). For user-generated or unknown-direction content, prefer <bdi>, which isolates the content so its direction is auto-detected and cannot leak into the surrounding text:
<p>שלום, <bdi>{{ userName }}</bdi>, ברוך הבא</p>
For free-text fields, dir="auto" (or unicode-bidi: plaintext in CSS) lets the browser pick the base direction per value, which is the correct default for comments, names, and search queries where you do not know the language in advance.
Shadows and gradients do not auto-flip. CSS logical properties mirror layout, but box-shadow, text-shadow, and linear-gradient offsets/angles are physical and stay fixed when direction flips. A shadow offset of 4px 4px that looks correct in LTR will point the "wrong" way relative to an RTL layout. The same physical-not-logical trap applies to transform-origin, background-position, and translateX-based keyframe animations (slide-in drawers, carousels, progress shimmer). Flip each explicitly with a :dir(rtl) (or [dir="rtl"]) override when its direction is meaningful.
Step 4: Mirror Directional Icons
Icon mirroring is one of the highest-frequency RTL bugs. The rule: mirror icons whose meaning is tied to reading direction, leave everything else alone.
Mirror these (their direction encodes "forward/back/next/previous" relative to reading order):
- Navigation arrows, back/forward buttons, breadcrumb chevrons
- "Send" / submit arrows, carousel and pagination arrows
- Indentation, list-nesting, and reply arrows
- Progress indicators that imply forward motion
Do NOT mirror these (mirroring makes them wrong or unrecognizable):
- Logos and brand marks
- Checkmarks and X / close icons
- Media play buttons (a play button always points right, it refers to the timeline, not reading direction)
- Clocks and analog-time icons (clockwise is universal)
- Icons depicting real-world objects with a fixed orientation (a phone handset, a magnifying glass with the handle, most product icons)
Technique, mirror with a horizontal flip transform:
.icon-directional:dir(rtl) { transform: scaleX(-1); }
<button class="rtl:-scale-x-100">
<ArrowLeftIcon />
</button>
Many icon sets (for example Material Symbols) already ship RTL-aware variants, prefer those over flipping when available, because a flipped icon can mis-render fine detail or embedded text.
Step 5: Hebrew Typography
Recommended font stack:
font-family: 'Heebo', 'Assistant', 'Rubik', 'Noto Sans Hebrew', sans-serif;
Typography settings:
body[dir="rtl"] {
font-size: 16px;
line-height: 1.7;
letter-spacing: normal;
word-spacing: 0.05em;
}
Step 6: Framework-Specific Setup
Tailwind CSS RTL (v4, current; logical utilities since v3.3):
Prefer logical property utilities over rtl:/ltr: variants:
| Physical class | Logical class | CSS property |
|---|
ml-4 | ms-4 | margin-inline-start |
mr-4 | me-4 | margin-inline-end |
pl-4 | ps-4 | padding-inline-start |
pr-4 | pe-4 | padding-inline-end |
left-4 | inset-s-4 (was start-4) | inset-inline-start |
right-4 | inset-e-4 (was end-4) | inset-inline-end |
rounded-l-lg | rounded-s-lg | border-start-start-radius + border-end-start-radius |
rounded-r-lg | rounded-e-lg | border-start-end-radius + border-end-end-radius |
<div class="ltr:ml-4 rtl:mr-4">...</div>
<div class="ms-4">...</div>
Reserve rtl: / ltr: variants only for cases logical properties cannot handle (e.g., directional icons, transforms).
Tailwind v4 note: v4 (GA since early 2025, currently v4.3) uses CSS-first configuration (@import "tailwindcss" in CSS) instead of tailwind.config.js. Logical utilities work identically in both v3 and v4. As of v4.3 (May 2026) the logical inset utilities start-*/end-* are deprecated in favor of inset-s-*/inset-e-* (the old names still work); the margin/padding utilities ms-*/me-*/ps-*/pe-* are unaffected.
Next.js App Router:
import { Heebo } from 'next/font/google';
const heebo = Heebo({
subsets: ['hebrew', 'latin'],
weight: ['400', '500', '700'],
});
export default async function RootLayout({
children,
params,
}: {
children: React.ReactNode;
params: Promise<{ locale: string }>;
}) {
const { locale } = await params;
const isRTL = locale === 'he';
return (
<html lang={locale} dir={isRTL ? 'rtl' : 'ltr'}>
<body className={heebo.className}>{children}</body>
</html>
);
}
next/font self-hosts the font (no external Google Fonts requests, zero layout shift).
React with MUI:
Current MUI (v9 as of 2026) uses the official fork @mui/stylis-plugin-rtl, not the older community stylis-plugin-rtl package. The official fork fixes CSS-layers issues and supports current Stylis versions; this has been the recommended setup since MUI v6.
import { createTheme, ThemeProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';
import { CacheProvider } from '@emotion/react';
import createCache from '@emotion/cache';
import { rtlPlugin } from '@mui/stylis-plugin-rtl';
import { prefixer } from 'stylis';
const cacheRtl = createCache({
key: 'muirtl',
stylisPlugins: [prefixer, rtlPlugin],
});
const theme = createTheme({ direction: 'rtl' });
Confirm the exact import name and setup against the current MUI RTL guide (https://mui.com/material-ui/customization/right-to-left/) for your MUI version.
Portalled UI (modals, dropdowns, tooltips, toasts). Components rendered through a portal (React createPortal, Radix, MUI Menu, Floating UI) mount at document.body and inherit direction from there, but many libraries assume LTR. Set dir on <html> AND pass the library's own direction setting: Radix needs a <DirectionProvider dir="rtl"> wrapper, MUI needs direction: 'rtl' in the theme. Otherwise popovers open on the wrong side even when the rest of the page is correct.
Step 7: Common Pitfalls to Check
- Directional icons -- mirror them (see Step 4 for which icons to flip and which to leave)
- Progress bars -- should fill from right to left
- Sliders/carousels -- swipe direction should reverse
- Form labels -- should be right-aligned
- Breadcrumbs -- separator direction should reverse
- Tables -- columns reorder automatically, but force numeric, code, and date cells back to LTR with
<td dir="ltr"> or text-align: end
- Charts -- x-axis may need to reverse for Hebrew readers (SVG has no logical properties, so use the charting library's
reversed/rtl option, not CSS)
- Shadows and gradients -- physical offsets/angles do not auto-flip (see Step 3)
- Fixed and sticky chrome (headers, toasts, FABs, drawers) -- hardcoded
left: 0 / right: 0 does not flip; use inset-inline-start / inset-inline-end
- Scrollbars sit on the left in RTL -- reserve space with
scrollbar-gutter: stable to avoid reflow; text-wrap: balance improves Hebrew headings
Step 8: Verify the RTL Layout
Authoring rules are not enough, verify before shipping:
- Flip the whole app to
dir="rtl" and scan for anything that did not move (it is still using a physical property).
- Test one canonical mixed string in every text surface:
שלום John 050-1234567 ₪1,234 exercises Hebrew, Latin, a phone number, and a currency amount at once.
- Open every modal, dropdown, tooltip, and toast (portalled UI is the most common RTL miss).
- Check fixed/sticky chrome, charts/SVG, and form fields with
dir="auto".
Examples
Example 1: Convert LTR Component to RTL
User says: "Make this card component work in Hebrew"
Before (LTR-only):
.card {
margin-left: 16px;
padding-right: 12px;
text-align: left;
border-left: 3px solid blue;
}
After (RTL-compatible):
.card {
margin-inline-start: 16px;
padding-inline-end: 12px;
text-align: start;
border-inline-start: 3px solid blue;
}
With Tailwind, replace ml-4 pr-3 text-left border-l-4 with ms-4 pe-3 text-start border-s-4.
Example 2: Bidi Text Issue
User says: "Numbers are showing backwards in my Hebrew text"
<p>התקשרו אלינו: 050-321-4450</p>
<p>התקשרו אלינו: <span dir="ltr">050-321-4450</span></p>
Use unicode-bidi: isolate on the containing span for CSS-only solutions.
Example 3: Tailwind RTL Navigation
User says: "My sidebar is on the wrong side in Hebrew"
<aside class="fixed left-0 w-64">...</aside>
<aside class="fixed inset-s-0 w-64">...</aside>
<button class="rtl:-scale-x-100">
<ArrowLeftIcon />
</button>
Bundled Resources
References
references/css-logical-properties.md - Complete physical-to-logical CSS property mapping table (margin, padding, border, positioning, text alignment, sizing) plus Hebrew font stack recommendations for sans-serif, serif, and monospace. Consult when converting any LTR stylesheet to RTL-compatible logical properties or choosing Hebrew web fonts.
Gotchas
- CSS
text-align: left is wrong for Hebrew. Use text-align: start which respects the document direction. Agents frequently hardcode left alignment in CSS.
margin-left and padding-right do not flip in RTL mode. Use CSS logical properties: margin-inline-start and padding-inline-end instead. Agents trained on LTR CSS will generate physical properties.- Flexbox
row direction auto-reverses in RTL, but row-reverse also reverses, causing a double-flip back to LTR order. Agents may add row-reverse thinking it creates RTL, but it actually creates LTR within an RTL context.
- Phone numbers, credit card numbers, and code snippets must remain LTR even inside RTL containers. Wrap them in
<bdo dir="ltr"> or use direction: ltr on the containing element. Agents often let these inherit RTL.
Reference Links
Troubleshooting
Error: "Text alignment looks wrong"
Cause: Using text-align: left instead of text-align: start
Solution: Replace all left/right in text-align with start/end.
Error: "Layout not mirroring"
Cause: Using physical margin/padding instead of logical properties
Solution: Replace all margin-left/margin-right with margin-inline-start/margin-inline-end.
