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Point
New Member
January 31, 2021

Launched: Add support for RTL languages

  • January 31, 2021
  • 84 replies
  • 18605 views

Hello!
I wanted to report a problem with the text component
The component works great in all languages, but I noticed that in the Hebrew language (and probably also in Arabic) the order of the letters is reversed
This is a well-known problem in Hebrew because it needs RTL support

.redro esrever ni nettirw si txet elohw eht taht si ti gnitartsurf woh kniht tsuJ

(Just think how frustrating it is that the whole text is written in reverse.)

Another important thing to note is that we (speakers of RTL languages) are very aware of this problem, but designers who do not speak these languages ​​often encounter this problem without noticing. For example, even in the familiar game - Brawl Stars (They corrected this after the post was published) and many others have problems with the Hebrew text displayed in the screenshots of the game in Google play

For the developers of Figma- I found great documentation for the implementation of RTL in SVG: Creating SVG Tiny Pages in Arabic, Hebrew and other Right-to-left scripts

I really like to design in Figma but it’s just awful to design with Hebrew text so please add RTL support

84 replies

Galita
May 4, 2021

Hi Figma,

Arabic is the 5th most used language in the world, with over 420 million speakers. There are also over 100 million speakers of Urdu and over 9 million speakers of Hebrew. As designers and developers, we shouldn’t just leave hundreds of millions of users behind.
from Don’t be backwards by Alan Sien Wei Hshieh
Don’t be backwards. A quick guide to making sure your app… | by Alan Sien Wei Hshieh | Prototypr

I love Figma! With proper RTL support, it would be the best Platform I ever used.
Please make me happy with other millions of users!

Thank youuu 💓

Inbal_Vermus
May 4, 2021

I think this is crucial for me to continue working on Figma as a designer who’s creating products in different languages like it’s for Arabic speakers which is a huge community…

Dima_Yarovinsky
May 4, 2021

Hi Figma team, let me draw your attention to the fact that this is the most voted-for feature request you have on your platform. It deserves your attention.

elad_star
May 4, 2021

Please fix it.
It’s the ONLY reason my team can’t use Figma!

Deckel_Mualem
May 7, 2021

Israel has a vibrant design community that works with Figma, and most of them need writing ability from right to left (in Hebrew, Arabic and Amharic) - we are sure you have the ability to create quick localization of the language - make us happy!

yulia3
May 7, 2021

It not just will make us happier but will improve the lives of millions of users.
Some stats about our languages:

PS. In CHI 2021 I’ll present a work about problems with BiDirectional (RTL+LTR) languages, hope, that this is also a fact, demonstarting the needing of support.
https://camps.aptaracorp.com/ACM_PMS/PMS/ACM/CHI21/420/01837ac8-45c7-11eb-8d84-166a08e17233/OUT/chi21-420.html

PPS. We understand, that it’s not a simple task and will be happy to help you! 🙂

Galita
May 7, 2021

מהממת!

adam_asseraf
New Participant
May 10, 2021

srengised LTR lla ot seussi ynam evlos dluow taht erutaef dedeen hcum a si siht

Ilan
May 10, 2021

I think it’s time to make this happen, makes all of us Hebrew / Arabic speakers work harder with plugins and workarounds just to make it work somehow.

Hope we hear some news soon, will really make a difference for all of us.

Orit
May 10, 2021

Hello there Figma team
This topic is a real pain point for us Hebrew/Arabic speakers.
Working on text in Figma feels arcaic like working on PS many many years ago…

FYI