An Awesome Way to Type Spanish Fast! :D
Just in case some people do not know yet, I want to announce that I found an awesome way to type Spanish characters fast! Go to your language toolbar and add "US International," (FOR WINDOWS VISTA: Control Panel>Clock, Language, and Region>Change Keyboards or other input methods>Change Keyboards>Add) so the whenever you need to type in Spanish, you would change your language toolbar to US International, and here are the shortcuts:
* á: press ' and then press a
* é: ' + e
* í: ' + i
* ó: ' + o
* ú: ' + u
* ¿: Alt + ?
* ñ: ~ + n
* ¡: Alt + !
* ü: " + u
* ë: " + e
Just one thing though. When you are in US international, to press ' or " you need to press a space after you press those.
Now, hopefully, this will encourage many to further advance their Spanish! :D
I found the link where it gives you very simple directions for Windows 3.x, Windows 95, 98 and beyond, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and MacTyping Spanish Written Accents It's so simple! 
5 Answers
According to the link, Mac uses should do the following, but I can't make it work. Any advice from other Mac users would be appreciated!
To get accents on the Mac, hold down the Option key, and while holding it down, type the letter e; then release those keys and type the letter that you want the accent to appear on:
á = Opt + e, then a
é = Opt + e, then e
í = Opt + e, then i
ó = Opt + e, then o
ú = Opt + e, then u
For the ñ, hold down the Option key while you type the n; release and type n again.
ñ = Opt + n, then n
To place the diaeresis over the u, hold down the Option key while pressing the u key; release and type u again.
ü = Opt + u, then u
The inverted punctuation marks are achieved as follows:
¡ = Opt + 1
¿ Opt + shift + ?
This is a great idea, but I took it a step farther. I usually use the US International keyboard when I'm typing English, but switch to the Spanish (Colombia) keyboard when I'm typing Spanish. Sometimes I just leave the Spanish keyboard on even in English. I guess it's just a matter of choice. Either way, this will be faster than reaching for the mouse every time I want a tilde. With the Spanish keyboard, I don't have to worry about using the ALT key.
See now I posted something like this and it was removed... :-( my feelings are hurt now... Lol, but thank you for relaying the knowledge.
I have it so I can switch between the Spanish keyboard and US International...due to switching between English and Spanish, I have found the US International to be the best for me as all symbols are where my fingers expect and I need only add a few extra key strokes for the tildes. However, the Spanish key board actually moves many symbols around...just as I would get used to one configuration, I would need to switch...then I'd be typing incorrectly for several minutes while my fingers readjusted.
US International requires only that I get used to typing a space after " and ' to get them to appear (without a space after them...two spaces are required to get a space after those 2 symbols). Otherwise, they create an umlaut or tilde (e.g., ü, ú) respectively on the next character if it is a character that can take an accent, or it simply prints the " or ' and the next letter ("m, 'm) if it is a character that cannot take an accent.
Also, it was easier to remember Alt+! and Alt+? for the upside down versions as opposed to + for the ¡ and shift+- for the ? and shift++ for the ¿, which is what the Spanish keyboard requires. It would be okay if my keyboard was labeled like that, but it isn't.
Does this work for windows xp?
