Strip accent (and lower case)

strip_accent.js

function strip_accent( str ) {
  var acc = "ÀÁÂÃÄÅÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÒÓÔÕÖÙÚÛÜÝàáâãäåçèéêëìíîïðòóôõöùúûüýÿñ".split('')
  , min = "aaaaaaceeeeiiiiooooouuuuyaaaaaaceeeeiiiioooooouuuuyyn".split('')
  , l = acc.length
  , i = 0;
  
  for(; i < l ; i++) {
    str = str.replace( new RegExp(acc[i], "g"), min[i]);
  }

  return str.toLowerCase();
}

Use case

I usually create a field dedicated to sorting / filtering which holds data transformed using this function.
It allow me to do any search / order / filter without worried about accented letters.