Authority establishes Maltese language standard keyboardAuthor: Rosanne Zammit 3 May 2002 The Malta Standards Authority said yesterday it had established the standard for computer keyboards having Maltese language characters. The move means Maltese characters have been assigned specific positions on the keyboard in conformity with the standards of the International Standards Organisation. Anyone creating a Maltese font will now know where to put the Maltese characters. MSA chairman Frans E. Farrugia said that to date, the keyboard allocation of Maltese characters was not uniform. This meant that people using different systems could not communicate easily with one another. Maltese text sent by e-mail was often garbled and consequently indecipherable because the characters did not match. He said the authority had adopted some 10,000 standards but this was the first one specifically related to Malta. The authority is also working on other Maltese standards including food hygiene and Maltese lace. The keyboard standard was created by the MSA in collaboration with the Central Information Management Unit (CIMU) within the Office of the Prime Minister, Malta Information Technology and Training Services Ltd, the Akkademja tal-Malti and the University. Economic Services Minister Josef Bonnici said this was an important step as the Maltese language was finally catching up with the computer and informatics era. He said the next step would be the development of Maltese software, including a spellchecker. Technical personnel Eric Flask and Ramon Casha said that discussions were currently ongoing with suppliers to supply such keyboards, ideally to the Maltese public but at least to government departments. They said the Linux operating system (website: linux.org.mt) had been supporting the Maltese language for a long time and work was being carried out on a Maltese spellchecker, which although not concluded was already available for those who wanted it. Linux programmes, which are distributed free of charge, were being translated into Maltese. Source: Times of Malta, www.timesofmalta.com
 
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