Looking to type in an accent or tilde or another special character? Prez Art Gorski has the info you need! Here's the link: http://www.macworld.com/article/2036310/type-special-characters-in-os-x.html#tk.rss_all
"In all previous versions of OS X, if you wanted to type an accented character, like an 'n' with a tilde above it, you would have to type 'Option-n' and then type 'n' again.
"If you’re running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, you can type some characters—specifically, those that are accented or modified versions of common letters—by simply holding down the base character. For example, if you need to type an accented E, just hold down the E key for a second or so; you’ll see a popover displaying the available variations on the letter E. Click one, or press the number corresponding to it, to type that character. On a U.S. English keyboard, this trick works for A, C, E, I, L, N, O, S, U, Y, and Z."