Leading is set for the vowelled sections on their own, so the rest of the book does not grow to match.
Arabic Typesetting Services
Arabic is easy to set badly and hard to set well.
The obvious challenge is the direction of the page. The harder problems are usually in the detail: vowel marks, letter joins, line spacing, numerals, and the points where Arabic and English meet.
Alpha eBook typesets Arabic books for publishers, presses, and religious and educational institutions.
Send a chapter and your source files. We will set a sample spread before you commit to the full title.
Let's Get Started
Setting Books
Since 2013
Since 2013
NDA on Every Project
Free Sample
Before You Commit
Before You Commit
What Arabic Typesetting Involves
Arabic typesetting is the composition of Arabic text into a finished page, for print or digital publication. It covers the right-to-left structure of the book, the selection of a typeface that supports Arabic shaping properly, the leading the text needs, and the handling of any other language that appears alongside the Arabic.
The book type decides most of the work. A modern novel in unvowelled Arabic is one job. A fully vowelled religious text is another, with marks above and below almost every letter. A bilingual academic title that carries English terms inside Arabic lines is a third.
For a closer look at the specific points where Arabic layouts fail, see our guide to Arabic typesetting for books. For titles published in several languages at once, see multilingual typesetting.
What Our Arabic Typesetting and Book Formatting Service Covers
Vowelled and unvowelled text
Leading set for the text in hand, so vowel marks, including full tashkeel where required, clear the lines above and below and remain correctly positioned.
Arabic and English editions
Bilingual and academic titles with English terms, citations, and figures inside Arabic lines, checked where the two scripts meet.
Typeface selection
Naskh faces for continuous reading, display faces for headings and covers, each checked for the ligatures and marks the text requires.
Religious and classical texts
Scripture, commentary, and classical works set with the care that fully vowelled and heavily annotated text demands.
Notes and apparatus
Footnotes, endnotes, indexes, and cross-references built to work right to left, and rebuilt when pagination changes.
Right-to-left page structure
Gutter, binding edge, folio order, table direction, and numeral style set for the intended readership. Artwork is reviewed individually rather than automatically mirrored.
Arabic Work We Have Set
Spreads from Arabic titles typeset by our team. Click either to view it full size.
arabic-sample-vowelled.
arabic-sample-bilingual
Problems We Catch During Arabic Typesetting
These are the faults that most often reach a proof. Each is caught before a page goes back to you.
Vowel marks colliding with the line above
A leading value that suits unvowelled prose leaves fully vowelled passages crowded, with marks touching the line above.
- What we do
English phrases breaking in the wrong order
An English citation inside an Arabic line wraps in its visual order, so the reader meets the end of the phrase before its beginning.
- What we do
Mixed-script lines are checked where the scripts meet, and phrases are broken in the order they are spoken.
Emphasis that breaks the word
A colour change or bold applied to part of a word can break the joins between letters, splitting it into pieces.
- What we do
Emphasis is applied to whole words and tested on a sample spread before it is used throughout.
A display face used for body text
A typeface that looks handsome in a heading can become tiring across hundreds of pages of continuous reading.
- What we do
A Naskh face is recommended for body text, with the chosen display face kept for headings and covers.
Want these caught on your book?
Send a chapter and your source files. We will set a sample spread and show you how your edition handles vowel marks, mixed-script lines, and emphasis before you commit.
How We Work
- 01
Files and brief
Your source files, and whether the text is vowelled or bilingual
- 02
Font review
Shaping, ligatures, and vowel marks checked before setting
- 03
Composition
Right to left, with leading set for the text in hand
- 04
Mixed-script check
Punctuation and line breaks where the scripts meet
- 05
Proof check
Spacing, joins, and mark positioning checked page by page
- 06
Delivery
Press-ready files, plus right-to-left ePub when needed
Arabic Books We Typeset
Each of these puts different pressure on an Arabic layout.
Religious texts
Scripture and devotional works, usually fully vowelled, where a misplaced mark changes the word.
Classical and literary works
Poetry and classical prose, often carrying vowel marks, where layout carries part of the meaning.
Academic and scholarly
Monographs with English citations, dense footnotes, and indexes that must work right to left.
Children's and educational
Primers and textbooks for learners, where vowelling and spacing decide readability.
Bilingual editions
Arabic and English together, on facing pages or in parallel, kept aligned section by section.
Trade and general
Modern fiction and non-fiction, usually set without marks, for comfortable continuous reading.
Three Ways to Set a Bilingual Arabic and English Book
Arabic reads right to left and English left to right, so a book carrying both has to decide how the two relate on the page. There are three common answers.
Facing pages
Each language on its own page of the spread, aligned passage by passage. Common for scholarly and literary editions where readers compare the two.
Parallel columns
Both languages on the same page in two columns. Compact, and suited to shorter texts, glossaries, and reference material.
Two front covers
English opens from one end and Arabic from the other, each with its own front cover and reading in toward the middle. Neither language is presented as the translation of the other.
The two-cover format suits institutions and publishers who want both languages to stand as equals. It changes the imposition, the pagination, and the cover design, so it is worth deciding before layout begins rather than after.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you typeset fully vowelled Arabic?
Yes. Marked text needs more leading so the marks clear the lines above and below, and the typeface has to position them correctly. We set the leading for the text in hand rather than applying one value to the whole book.
Can you set Arabic and English in the same book?
Yes. Bilingual and academic titles are a large part of the work. Lines carrying English inside Arabic need particular care, because the errors sit where the two scripts meet: punctuation landing on the wrong side, brackets facing the wrong way, and phrases breaking in the wrong order.
Do you proofread the Arabic text?
No. We set the text as supplied and check that the page is built correctly: spacing, joins, mark positioning, and the points where Arabic and English meet. Language proofing stays with your editors or a proofreader you appoint, and we incorporate their corrections into the proofs.
Which typeface should my book use?
It depends on the book. Naskh faces suit continuous reading and are the usual choice for body text. Display faces suit headings and covers. We will recommend a pairing based on your text and test it on a sample spread.
What files do you deliver?
Press-ready PDF to your printer’s specification, the packaged InDesign files, and a right-to-left ePub where the edition is published digitally. Fonts are supplied subject to their licensing terms. An NDA is signed before any files are transferred in either direction.
Can you deliver an Arabic edition as an eBook?
Yes. The same composition can be delivered as a right-to-left ePub alongside the print files, so the reading direction, page progression, and text shaping carry through to the digital edition rather than being rebuilt separately.
What about other languages written in the Arabic script?
The Arabic script is also used for Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Kurdish Sorani, Uyghur, and several other languages. They share the script but not the conventions: each adds letters Arabic does not use, and Urdu is commonly set in Nastaliq, which behaves quite differently from Naskh. Tell us the language and we will confirm what the edition needs before quoting.
