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Right-to-Left Languages

When your WordPress site language reads right to left, Promptless WP loads mirrored versions of its stylesheets automatically. There is nothing to switch on. The Promptless theme, Promptless CPT Pages and Promptless Forms do the same, so the whole page mirrors together.

When to use it

Section titled “When to use it”
  • Your site is in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu or another right-to-left language.
  • Your site has one right-to-left language among several. Language plugins are covered in Multilingual Sites.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”

WordPress marks a right-to-left page with dir="rtl". Each Promptless stylesheet has a mirrored sibling file, and WordPress swaps the sibling in whenever the site language is right to left. This is WordPress core’s own mechanism.

What mirrors:

  • Section layouts. Columns, grids and image-beside-text layouts run from right to left.
  • Icons and badges that sit to one side of text move to the other side.
  • Carousel arrows and other controls placed on the left or right swap sides.
  • Offsets, shadows and background positions that point one way point the other way.

How to check it

Section titled “How to check it”
  1. Open Settings → General in the WordPress admin.
  2. Choose a right-to-left language under Site Language, for example Arabic.
  3. Select Save Changes. WordPress installs the language if it is not already installed.
  4. View a Promptless page. Text starts from the right, and layouts are mirrored.
  5. Switch Site Language back when you are done, if this was only a test.

Limits and common problems

Section titled “Limits and common problems”
  • A directional character in your content is not flipped. An arrow typed into a heading, a button label or a list item stays as written, because it is content rather than layout. Choose the character that points the right way for your language when you write it.
  • The arrow after a text link points the same way. Promptless draws it as a character, and characters are not flipped.
  • Nothing mirrors. The site language is not a right-to-left language. Check Site Language, then check that the page’s <html> tag carries dir="rtl".

Available since Promptless WP 1.8.1.