On a Mac, option-e + a, e, i, o, u = á, é, í, ó, ú, option-n + n = ñ, and option-u + u = ü.

In WIndows, you need to add the "United States - International" keyboard layout under "Region and Languages" in Control Panel. You can then use: ~n to make ñ 'a, 'e, 'i etc to make á, é, í, "u to make ü RightAlt-/ to make ¿ RightAlt-1 to make ¡

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306560 for details.

this is likely still way to cumbersome, but on my mac I use the option + e to get the accent mark and then type the appropriate letter and i use the option + n and then type n to get the n with tilde, thus: ñ as far as bilingway, I've not figured a way away from clicking the is it an umlaut?

Where did my line-breaks go? Sorry, hope it still makes sense.

I tried this but I still can't get it to work. I can type a letter with an accent in Word, but not in Firefox (with Windows)