There's loads of ways. Dead keys is one, the compose key is another suitable one for multilingual folk. I can write ä ö ü ß pretty much automatically with the compose key on a US layout, as well as any é ë ê ü I might need in Dutch.

In the Netherlands letters with diacritics don't even have their own key (Dutch computers tend to use US plus €).

Personally, I don't. I live in Muenchen, not München. When strictly needed, CTRL+C/CTRL+V from a Google search makes the trick.

When writing email/docs, autocorrector for the win.

Same thing in Italian: `e instead of è. Although, the German replacement is cleaner, I'd say.

Not OP, but I have a Mac and use the "ABC - Extended" keyboard, which has a full set of diacritics. You type them by using the option (⌥) key and a letter to set the diacritics and then type the letter.

    ⌥u  e = ë

    ⌥w  e = ė

For example, the key sequence required to type Kayodé is:

    ⇧k  a  y  o  d  ⌥e  e

etc.

I use US_Intl keyboard for Swedish and Portuguese and can type all of this without the need of special char keys: ä ö å - á à â ã. Just a mix of Opt+(u/a/e/i/n/`) and the next character I want with the diacritic.

Edit: and ß is just a Opt+s. It becomes quite logical after you get the hang of it.

Personally I use a compose-key on Linux and Wincompose on Windows, with SyncThing to keep my .XCompose file synchronized between machines when I add a custom sequence.

I mapped my Caps-Lock key as Compose, so I hit compose-a-" to get ä, and so on through the set. I've made customs for Ω and µ since I use those a lot and couldn't remember their default sequences. It's handy having ® and ™ on tap as well, and I get typographical niceties like ­— and … vs - and ...

Not GP but I use a similar setup. I have an "extended" US keyboard layout where AltGr+(location of character on native keyboard layout) types the character. For example, AltGr+[ is "ü". I find this more convenient than the compose-like approaches suggested elsewhere in this thread.

I use it because programming language syntax is mostly ergonomic only on US-like layouts, e.g. typing "{" causes a lot of strain if you have to do it on every other line.

On Linux I use the "altgr-intl" layout variation.

After pressing the right Alt key, AltGr, all of those characters are possible to type. Here's the layout:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/KB...

⌥u creates the two dots, then you press the key for the vowel to put underneath.

⌥s creates the ß.

(Both obviously only applicable for Macs)

French on US intl here ä ö ü ß are easy to make on such a setup but also the accented letters like é à ô or the infamous ç. It is even easier to type them in capital than it typically is on AZERTY (French keyboard) or QWERTZ (German one)

I swapped to us_intl as well full time a few years back (Swedish)

right alt + q = ä

right alt + w = å

right alt + s = ß

right alt + y = ü

It took a day or two to get a hang of it but it's such a relief not being constrained by everything being developed for US layouts

Using xkb map us(intl-unicode) it's a then alt gr + shift + " (I'm not totally sure if that's the correct, and ß is alt-gr + s.

AltGr+q; AltGr+p; AltGr+y; AltGr+s and Bonus: § (AltGr+Schift+s)

Once comited to muscle memory it's very easy

On a mac keyboard you can just long-press?