Bring back KeyCaps! I'm sure there's an alternative around, but I used it to learn these handy tips long ago

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That's the one thing I missed the most from switching from Windows to Mac almost two years ago - no alt+### accents. I am amazed that this is the first time I've ever heard of such a feature...

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Tom, if you have the Input menu turned on in the "International" system preference, you can easily access Keyboard Viewer, which gives you a mini-representation of your keyboard. Hold down the option key and look at all the options!

Now if only there were a way to user-define these so I can have easy access to logic symbols…

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Shift+Option+ gives a bunch of nice characters as well (mostly science-related stuff rather than text, though).

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Is there any way to input a "control" function? i.e. cntrl-F

With control functions, Google Docs, ZOHO, and editgrid can be used as repositories for information which can then be accessed from Safari.

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Popchart still works wonders... http://www.macility.com/products/popcharx/

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Why the hell do they give examples like "übermensch" and "götterdämmerung" for the German umlaut? These are words typically used by Wagner-loving nazis 60 years ago. Bad examples!

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What about fractions?
I know there's a shortcut to convert plain (1/2) fractions to one like ¾, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Also, does anyone know the shortcuts to subscript and superscript?

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My favorite band is Blue Öyster Cult.
My favorite movie is Amélie.
My favorite city is Montréal.

All hail the option key!

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Ah yes, I found this out by accident when I first switched last year, and since then, typing in French has been très facile. I remembered my teacher giving out sheets of paper with the windows keyboard shortcuts on them (eg. Alt+0234), and I've never been happier typing out accents on a Mac as it's definitely more intuitive than a bunch of random numbers.

@chief: People still use the word Götterdämmerung, as it is the name of Wagner's opera. What else would you suggest we call it? G*************g??

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Nice. The new iPhone update also allows for accented characters now-just hold down the key, and you get a popup with choices.

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If you own (or buy) a Matias keyboard you don't have to remember the Option key combos for accented characters, since they are printed right on the keys. Just as the Option-Shift shortcuts. very handy when you live in a bi-lingual city like Montréal.

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Oops, the URL didn't work, I shouldn't have used html.

Matias Tactile Pro keyboard
http://matias.ca/tactilepro2/index.php

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don't forget opt+n for ñ!!! very important for spanish, right along with á é í ó ú and ü (yes ü is used in spanish)!

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I found ages ago when I switched a keyboard layout for English international that allows you to use your keyboard like god intended! to type é you just tipe '+e è is just `+e ü is shift+'+u

Much much simpler than option e plus e for é or whatever... google it, its English international keyboard layout for mac.

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There's a free, handy CharacterPal widget here:

http://www.tacowidgets.com/widgets/characterpal/

...mouseover the character and the key combo appears.

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Hi,
Perhaps I'm stupid, but on my 2 macs this doesnot work. I
typecontrol key, then with the control key still pressed, I type e,
but I get a greek letter. What is wrong? How can you do it ?

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@Yayo i am very interested in what you are writing but I can't seem to find what you mean or what i should do on google... could you please elaborate a bit?

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I am still disappointed with the Unix/Linux/OSX way of working with accents. Microsoft simply does a much better job: hit the accent key and immediately after hit the required character to be combined with the accentkey. It's almost the same as with the old typing machines we used ages ago. By this means you don't need to remember anything, just select the proper character set like US international, dutch, german, ...

I definetly prefer Apple/OSX but still don't understand why people keep on strugling with the accents while a perfect approach is available for years already with Microsoft. I am sure lots of people would be willing to pay a couple of bucks to get the same working with OSX.

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@Guillaume: Not sure what you're trying to do with the control key. If you want accented letters with the standard U.S. keyboard, you use the option key, e.g. option-e + e = é, and so on. Open Mac Help and search for "accent" to get an explanation. The ability to type common Western European accented letters on the standard U.S. keyboard using the option key has been part of the Mac OS since the original Mac in 1984. For more in-depth information about international Mac use, see "Unleash Your Multilingual Mac":
http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/mlingos9.html

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