Arabic-first sites and portals
Right-to-left is a layout system, not a mirror image. We build with logical CSS properties (start and end instead of left and right) so one component set serves both directions, and we set the language and direction attributes on the document and on any inline text in the other language. Our Next.js development work starts from this.
Mixed text is where right-to-left pages break. Email addresses, URLs, order numbers and product codes are left-to-right strings inside Arabic sentences, and without direction isolation the punctuation jumps to the wrong side. We isolate these runs and test with real data. Search needs the same care: Arabic users type one word with different hamza and ta marbuta spellings, so a search index should normalise those variants and ignore diacritics. The Arabic website development checklist lists the rest.
Performance on mobile
Many Saudi users will arrive on a phone, so set the performance budget for a mid-range Android device on an ordinary connection, not for a developer laptop. Arabic web fonts are often heavier than Latin ones. Subset them, load only the weights you use, and show text at once in a fallback font while the real one loads.
The usual wins matter more on a phone: sized and compressed images, little client-side JavaScript, server rendering for the first view and a content delivery network. Ask any provider where its edge locations are relative to your users. We measure the Core Web Vitals (largest contentful paint, interaction to next paint and layout shift) on real devices before launch. For stores, the ecommerce spoke adds catalogue and checkout.
Arabic search and SEO
Give each language its own URL and link them with hreflang annotations: ar-SA for Saudi Arabic readers, en for English, and an x-default. Write titles and descriptions natively in Arabic, not as translations, and generate a sitemap per language. Our multilingual CMS page covers how editors manage both versions, and the CMS for multilingual teams article compares the options.
Arabic URLs or English slugs? Arabic slugs read well in the browser but turn into long percent-encoded strings when copied into WhatsApp, email or analytics. English or transliterated slugs with Arabic page content are a legitimate choice and keep links short. Pick one rule per site, keep it, and redirect old paths when you change it. Do keyword research in Arabic, where spelling variants and dialect words split the demand, and have a native editor review it.
Payments with local methods
Take payment through a provider that supports mada, Apple Pay and the other methods your audience uses, and use its hosted payment page or fields so card data never touches your servers. Confirm the provider's licensing for the Saudi market, and the card-industry standard it holds, with the provider itself.
The order logic matters more than the button. The provider confirms payment with a server-to-server message (a webhook), so verify its signature, process each message once, and never treat the browser's return from the bank page as proof of payment. Users often leave to approve in their banking app, so keep the order state on the server and let them resume. The fintech industry page gives the wider picture.
Signing in with national digital identity
Nafath is the national digital identity sign-in. For government-facing or regulated services, users may expect to use it, and access is set by the issuing authority, so ask early what approval your product needs and how long it takes. Build the integration behind an identity layer in your own code, so the rest of the product does not depend on one sign-in method.
Treat national ID and residence numbers as sensitive personal data. Collect them only when the service needs them, store them encrypted, never show them in full, and keep them out of logs and URLs. Keep an account system of your own with multi-factor authentication for users the national sign-in does not cover.
Hosting location and data transfer
Decide early where each kind of data lives: the database, backups, logs, file uploads, analytics, email and support tools. Each one that holds personal data raises the transfer question: what conditions apply if it is stored or processed outside the Kingdom? Some cloud providers offer regions inside the Kingdom, and the list changes, so check it when you plan rather than relying on memory.
A common pattern keeps personal data in a region you can name, while public pages are served from a content delivery network close to users. We can map this onto the cloud platforms we work with, such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, once counsel tells you what your sector expects. A threat model and secure code review then check that data does not leak into places you did not plan.
Hosting, transfer and identity-number handling are legal questions as well as technical ones. This page is awareness, not legal advice; confirm the requirements for your product with qualified local counsel.
Accessibility for government and enterprise portals
Government and enterprise buyers often ask for WCAG conformance, commonly at level AA, so ask which version and level the client expects. For public bodies, also ask whether the Digital Government Authority's guidelines apply to your project. The government industry page explains the context.
In Arabic, test the details that audits find: the language attribute on inline English words so screen readers switch voice, a focus order that follows the right-to-left reading order, contrast on thin Arabic strokes at small sizes, and text that still fits at 200 percent zoom.
Hijri and Gregorian dates
Browsers format dates for the Saudi Arabic locale (ar-SA) with the Hijri calendar and Arabic-Indic digits unless you ask otherwise, which surprises teams that expected Gregorian output. Request the calendar and the numbering system explicitly in your date formatting code. Store dates as ISO 8601 values with a time zone (Saudi Arabia is UTC+3 all year) and convert only for display.
Decide per field what users see. Bookings and invoices usually read best in Gregorian, while some official and personal documents are expected in Hijri. Where it matters, show both, labelled. Whichever you choose, test the weekday logic: the working week runs Sunday to Thursday, which affects delivery estimates and booking slots.