Articles written in Romanian language 
Totally random things
A sporadic stringing of ideas on various topics, unrelated to anything else around here.
Random »
Revision of the Romanian keyboard standard, 2026 edition
At a distance of 22 years, I am considering a minor revision of the SR 13392:2004 standard. Both the old story and the new story are grouped together in a completely separate chapter.
KBD RO Standard, 2026 edition »
Replacement of Romanian diacritics from correct to incorrect or vice versa
There are sometimes situations in which the writing in the Romanian language has to be either corrected or tormented with regard to specific diacritics. In case of using the Writer component within the LibreOffice or OpenOffice office suite, the correction or tormenting of these diacritics can be carried out – at least in a certain respect – by using an extension: LibraryDiacritice.
Once installed, this extension allows the replacement of characters ș and ț with comma below to those with cedilla below or vice versa, entering Romanian diacritics with the help of the mouse for situations where the Romanian keyboard is not activated in the system, or total elimination of Romanian diacritics by replacing them with characters without diacritics (ASCII).
LibraryDiacritice »
Term translations encountered in graphics programs
Although it may seem strange (or even unthinkable) to some, there are also users who prefer – or at least accept – to work with graphics or digital image editing programs whose menus are translated into Romanian. This is the case (especially) of those who occasionally use such programs, who do not want to remember mechanically what certain functions do within the programs and to whom the expression in Romanian language is convenient anyway.
Whatever the reasons (this may be a separate topic) and regardless of the program used, the translations of the terms that populate those menus, especially in such a specific case, must be as coherent as possible in terms of the terminology used.
Graphics l10n (terminology) »
Shades, Dot and Comma
The technical details of cultural elements should be underpinned by clear and unequivocal documentation, so that referring to a specific rule of a language or culture does not put in trouble any of the parties who wish to interact in either way.
However, there are technical details left simply to chance and of which we are told some crap about a foreign influence that is said to wipe out our Romanian tradition, while important national landmarks are recorded on the basis of criteria that are worthy of the Middle Ages.
Shades, Dot and Comma »
This article was published on Contributors.ro
English the languages
Quote from a joint Council Of Europe & European Commission declaration, 26 September 2011:
Against the current backdrop of increasing mobility, globalisation of the economy and changing economic trends, the need to learn languages and develop plurilingual and intercultural education is more obvious than ever before.
My mobility didn’t increased when compared to the past and neither do I feel the need for more – I thank them for their concern anyway – but it is also true that there is an increasing amount of mobile devices that surrounds me. And on the matter, on 30 July 2014,
the Commission proposes to reject this petition to legislate for the protection of the cultural and linguistic heritage of Member States in the field of modern electronic systems.
English the languages »
European languages on virtual keyboards
The way accented national letters are generated on modern mobile devices discourages proper writing in one’s mother tongue. Strangely nobody seems to care, while the European Union claims the Union shall contribute to the flowering of the culture of the Member States, the plurality of languages, cultural diversity, preservation of regional traditions, blah, blah.
Letters and keystrokes »
The Romanian language in the computer age
Rather technical than purely linguistic:
- Information about Romanian language compatibility on Microsoft Windows Vista (and beyond).
Info WinVista » - Standardized Romanian keyboard layout driver, for Microsoft Windows versions prior to Vista.
RO Keyboard » - The Romanian characters ș and ț issue.
ș’s and ț’s » - Accessing the € (Euro Sign) on Romanian keyboards.
€ on Romanian keyboard » - Character encoding and glyph names in fonts used to write correctly the Romanian language.
Fonts Encoding » - Forum focused especially on localization issues, like standardized & other keyboard layouts, character encoding, fonts, etc. But not only that.
Forum »
Articles written in English language 
Technical
- Focused on Joomla: a few extensions, either brand new – like the first one listed below – or others that were no longer maintained by their original creators, here updated from their fairy old versions:
- Publisher Frontend Activatable, a module that allows an editor who does not have administrative rights – but has publishing rights – to enable or disable the public visibility of an occasional announcement on a web page.
Publisher Frontend Activatable for Joomla! 4, 5 and 6 » - Aixeena Slideshow version 5.0, another module from the former Aixeena project. Still officially available but only for Joomla! 3, now fully compatible with Joomla! 5 and 6.
Aixeena Slideshow version 5.0 for Joomla! 5 and 6 » - Aixeena Ticker version 5.0, a module still officially available but for Joomla! 3 only, now now fully compatible with Joomla! 5 and 6. Demonstrative presentation highlighting multilingual capability within one of the strips.
Aixeena Ticker version 5.0 for Joomla! 5 and 6 » - Widgetkit version 1.5, quite old but maybe still interesting from the perspective of a few abandoned widgets in newer versions, now compatible with Joomla! 5 and 6.
YOOtheme Widgetkit version 1.5 for Joomla! 5 and 6 » - JSN Solid PRO template, created for Joomla! CMS quite long time ago by the now vanished company JoomlaShine, adapted to be compatible with Joomla! 5 and 6.
JSN Solid PRO Template for Joomla! 5 and 6 »
- Publisher Frontend Activatable, a module that allows an editor who does not have administrative rights – but has publishing rights – to enable or disable the public visibility of an occasional announcement on a web page.
- Minimal control software interface for (some) Blackmagic Design ATEM video switchers.
wxATEM » - GPI camera tally interface for StreamStar, for up to 8 studio cameras.
SSGPITally » - Hardware interface for controlling Fujinon B4-mount lenses through VISCA commands.
VifuLens » - A solution for camera Bluetooth remote control on Nokia 808 PureView or Nokia N8 phones.
Nokia BT Remote Control » - Solving a few software issues on ASUS R700 GPS device, either with original ASUS GO version, or when installing iGO8 version on it.
iGO on ASUS R700 »
SMS story
The time that stands still: an SMS text message continues to treat with contempt most of the world languages, just as it did from the very beginning.
An attempt on my part to rectify this situation has deviated into a legislative proposal at European level on the protection of the cultural and linguistic heritage of EU member states from the perspective of modern electronic systems (full text ), meanwhile becoming a very long, intricate and probably endless story.
Derived from the context of this endless story, in 2019 I formulated another legislative proposal at European level on regulation of languages of audiovisual toys in the EU (full text ), on which the European Commission threw the cat into the backyard of others, without, however, contradicting the factual situation.
SMS Story »
The strange nature of hobby: ZX Zone
It’s about Sinclair ZX Spectrum, an 8-bit computer from the past century. There are many web sites around treating this subject, however, I tried to focus on something less usual: the +3.
ZX Zone »