Spanish/Typing Spanish Characters

Windows.
Language Settings (fastest).
The idea of changing the language settings is that you can then type
characters quickly and easily (for example by pressing Alt+a for 
typing á). 
Windows XP.
This is a list that describes how to change the language settings
for Windows XP.
Now you should see a keyboard icon at your task bar at the bottom. 
Click on this icon to switch to the United States International keyboard layout. 
This keyboard layout has a new key (AltGr) and 5 "dead keys". The dead keys are explained below. An interactive diagram of this layout can be found in .
The US International keyboard has two different Alt keys.
The left Alt key continues to be the regular Alt key, normally associated with Windows menus. The right Alt key becomes what is called AltGr (or graphic Alt) key.
This key lets you type very quickly special characters in Spanish and other languages by using "AltGr" and then typing a character from the list below.
Note: + indicate typing one key after the other. - is typing two keys at the same time.
Lower-Case Characters.
 á -&gt; AltGr+a
 é -&gt; AltGr+e
 í -&gt; AltGr+i
 ó -&gt; AltGr+o
 ú -&gt; AltGr+u
 ü -&gt; AltGr+y
 ñ -&gt; AltGr+n
 ç -&gt; AltGr+,
 å -&gt; AltGr+w
Upper-Case Characters.
 Á -&gt; AltGr+Shift-a
 É -&gt; AltGr+Shift-e
 Í -&gt; AltGr+Shift-i
 Ó -&gt; AltGr+Shift-o
 Ú -&gt; AltGr+Shift-u
 Ü -&gt; AltGr+Shift-y
 Ñ -&gt; AltGr+Shift-n
 Ç -&gt; AltGr+Shift-,
 Ð -&gt; AltGr+Shift-d
Other Symbols.
 ¿ -&gt; AltGr+?
 ¡ -&gt; AltGr+!
 « -&gt; AltGr+[ Spaniards prefer «angular» quotes
 » -&gt; AltGr+] Latin Americans prefer the “curly” ones
 ° -&gt; AltGr+: Degree sign; ordinal sign, as in "4° año = cuarto año"
 € -&gt; AltGr+5
 ¢ -&gt; AltGr+Shift-c
 £ -&gt; AltGr+$
 ¥ -&gt; AltGr+-
Dead Keys.
The US International keyboard has five "dead keys". They add the symbol they have marked at the top of the following letter.
 '+a = á; '+e = é; ...
 "+a = ä; ...; "+u = ü
 ~+a = ã; ~+n = ñ
 ^+a = â; ...
 `+a = à; ...
 '+Shift-a = Á; '+Shift+e = É; ...
 "+Shift-u = Ü; ...
 ~+Shift-n = Ñ; ...
To enter what's written on a dead key you need to add a space. 
' followed by space generates an actual apostrophe.
Other Operating Systems.
Information on some other operation systems can be found
here.
Alt Number Codes.
You can type a special character by pressing and holding down
the "Alt" button and then typing a number code on the number
pad of your keyboard. The most frequently used characters have both a three-digit
and a four-digit code. Less frequent characters (such as Á)
have only a four-digit code. This page contains a good overview of
special characters for different languages
Lower Case Characters.
 á -&gt; Alt-160 or Alt-0225
 ç -&gt; Alt-135 or Alt-0231 
 é -&gt; Alt-130 or Alt-0233
 í -&gt; Alt-161 or Alt-0237
 ñ -&gt; Alt-164 or Alt-0241
 ó -&gt; Alt-162 or Alt-0243
 ú -&gt; Alt-163 or Alt-0250 
 ü -&gt; Alt-129 or Alt-0252
Upper Case Characters.
 Á -&gt; Alt-0193 
 Ç -&gt; Alt-128 or Alt-0199
 É -&gt; Alt-144 or Alt-0201 
 Í -&gt; Alt-0205
 Ñ -&gt; Alt-165 or Alt-0209
 Ó -&gt; Alt-0211
 Ú -&gt; Alt-0218 
 Ü -&gt; Alt-154 or Alt-0220
Punctuation Marks.
 ¿ Alt-168 or Alt-0191
 ¡ Alt-173 or Alt-0161
Copy &amp; Paste.
This method can be useful if you are just writing a short
text (for example an e-mail) and don't have a computer
where you can/want change language settings. Just try to
pull up a web page or a document that contains the special
characters and paste them into your text. For longer texts,
however, this can become quite tedious.
Search &amp; Replace.
If you are working with a text editor you have the option to
search for text and replace it with other text. This feature
can be used to 'type' special characters. The idea is to
"mark" a character for becoming a special character, for
example typing "~a" when you mean "á". After you have written
your text you replace marked characters (the "~a") with
special characters (the "á"). Of course you have to either
type in the Alt number code or paste the character,
but the point is that you only have to do it "once" for
the whole text and not for every single "á" that you want to
type.
Automated Search &amp; Replace.
If you know a programming language that allows string processing
you can automate the "Search &amp; Replace" process by a computer
program which automatically replaces all your marked characters with 
the appropriate special characters after you are done with typing
your text.
Macintosh.
Compared to Windows, typing Spanish characters on a Macintosh is relatively easy. So long as you are using a standard American or UK-style QWERTY keyboard, you may just use the following keyboard commands. (Note that you should release the Option (Opt) key before striking the second letter; for example, for á, hold down Option, strike E, release Option, strike A.)
One good way to practice typing Spanish characters on a Mac is to use the Key Caps program, which should be in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. This simple program will show you what characters you can type next if you hold down the Option and/or Shift keys.
Lower-Case Characters.
 á -&gt; Opt+E, A
 é -&gt; Opt+E, E
 í -&gt; Opt+E, I
 ó -&gt; Opt+E, O
 ú -&gt; Opt+E, U
 ü -&gt; Opt+U, U
 ñ -&gt; Opt+N, N
 ç -&gt; Opt+C
 å -&gt; Opt+A
Upper-Case Characters.
 Á -&gt; Opt+E, Shift+A
 É -&gt; Opt+E, Shift+E
 Í -&gt; Opt+E, Shift+I
 Ó -&gt; Opt+E, Shift+O
 Ú -&gt; Opt+E, Shift+U
 Ü -&gt; Opt+U, Shift+U
 Ñ -&gt; Opt+N, Shift+N
 Ç -&gt; Opt+Shift+C
Other Symbols.
 ¿ -&gt; Opt+Shift+/ (forward slash; same key as ?)
 ¡ -&gt; Opt+1
 « -&gt; Opt+\ (back slash; under the Delete key)
 » -&gt; Opt+Shift+\
 *Note that Spaniards prefer «angle quotes,» whereas Latin Americans prefer “curly quotes” as in English.
 ° -&gt; Opt+Shift+8 Degree sign; ordinal sign, as in "4° año = cuarto año"
 € -&gt; Opt+Shift+2
 ¢ -&gt; Opt+4
 £ -&gt; Opt+3
 ¥ -&gt; Opt+Y
KDE/GNOME.
In KDE and GNOME you can choose the international US keyboard layout. 
In KDE, go to Regional &amp; Accessibility - Keyboard Layout in the "KDE Control Center". Add the international US keyboard layout to your active layouts. With the flag icon in your taskbar you can now switch between different layouts.
In GNOME, find preferences in the system menu, and select "keyboard" from the preferences menu. Add the US English International layout to your layouts. Alt+Alt will cycle through the various layouts you have added. Alternatively, keyboard layout selection and management may be done via the GNOME "keyboard indicator" applet, which may be added to your panel.
With the appropriate keyboard layout selected, you can type á by typing ' and then a:
 'a á
 'e é
 'i í
 'o ó
 'u ú
 "u ü
 ~n ñ
X Windows.
In X Windows (the default windowing system for Linux which both KDE and Gnome run on top of) you can create a custom X keyboard layout with the special Spanish letters added; more information is here.