Typing in Spanish

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You have several options for typing in Spanish on the computer:


1. TypeIt.org


Here's a website where you can type in the box and click on the non-English chararacters when you need them.
Then copy your text and paste it to wherever you wish.

2. Windows XP- Spanish Keyboard


You can turn on the Spanish keyboard in Windows.

  1. Log On
  2. Click the Start button
  3. Click on Control Panel
  4. Click Regional and Language Options - a new window will pop up
  5. Click the Languages tab
  6. Click on the Details button
  7. Click the Add button - a new window will pop up
  8. Select one of the Spanish keyboard layout options. Traditional or Modern are good choices.
  9. Click OK
  10. Click Apply
  11. Your keyboard will now function like a Spanish typewriter with a layout like this:

external image spankey.jpg
To type characters on the bottom right of a key, hold down the right ALT key (marked Alt Gr on the above diagram) and press the key showing the desired character.
To type characters with accent marks, press the key for the appropriate mark first (such as the key for the acute accent mark, to the right of the Ñ key), and then press the key for letter to be accented.

Note: You will now have a keyboard icon on the taskbar (usually on the right side). To switch between keyboard layouts click the keyboard icon on the task bar and choose which layout you want to use. Changing the keyboard layout will only affect the log on profile used. No other users will be affected.

3. Windows- Using the U.S. - International Keyboard


You can also turn on an International Keyboard in Windows, that is more like your usual English-language keyboard, but lets you type characters of other languages:

  1. Log On
  2. Click the Start button
  3. Click on Control Panel
  4. Click Regional and Language Options - a new window will pop up
  5. Click the Languages tab
  6. Click on the Details button
  7. Click the Add button - a new window will pop up
  8. Select United States-International (keyboard layout menu)
  9. Click OK
  10. Click Apply
  11. Read the instructions for "Using the U.S. - International Keyboard" below.
Note: You will now have a keyboard icon on the taskbar (usually on the right side). To switch between keyboard layouts click the keyboard icon on the task bar and choose which layout you want to use. Changing the keyboard layout will only affect the log on profile used. No other users will be affected.

If you followed the above directions carefully, your keyboard will now react slightly differently than it did before. First of all, notice that if you strike the single apostrophe (') key, nothing happens. To type the single apostrophe now, you must strike the single apostrophe key and then strike the space bar. When you strike the spacebar, the apostrophe will appear.
The next thing to note is that the quotes (") key behaves the same way as the apostrophe key. You must first strike the quotes key and then strike the space bar in order to create the (") symbol. These two minor inconveniences are more than made up for by the ease with which you can now type the special characters.
To type the special characters, two keystrokes are required. To type the á, you need only strike the apostrophe key and then the letter a. The other characters are just as easy:
  • á = ' + a
  • é = ' + e
  • í = ' + i
  • ó = ' + o
  • ú = ' + u
  • ñ = ~ + n
  • ü = " + u
To type the special punctuation characters, you need to hold down on the Alt key while you strike the appropriate punctuation mark. On some keyboards, only one of the two Alt keys will work for this.
  • ¡ = Alt (hold down) + !
  • ¿ = Alt (hold down) + ?


4. Using ASCII Codes


The really old way (but some people like it) is to type combination key strokes without changing your keyboard.
See also: Accent codes
If, for some reason, you don't want to change your keyboard, you can always type in the troublesome cryptic codes. Using this arcane system, the following codes apply:
  • á = Alt + 0225
  • é = Alt + 0233
  • í = Alt + 0237
  • ó = Alt + 0243
  • ú = Alt + 0250
  • ñ = Alt + 0241
  • ü = Alt + 0252
  • ¡ = Alt + 0161
  • ¿ Alt + 0191
When using this out-dated system, there are two important things to remember. First, when you type in the numbers, some keyboards require that you use the "numeric keypad" located to the side, rather than the numbers along the top. Second, on some keyboards, only one of the two Alt keys will work for this.

5. Mac Users


If you use a Mac, here are instructions for you:

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 + ?