[javascript] Remove accents/diacritics in a string in JavaScript

I found all these a little clumsy and I'm not too expert on regular expressions, so here's a simpler version. It would be quite easy to translate it to your favourite server-side language, assuming that the string already in Unicode:

// String containing replacement characters for stripping accents 
var stripstring = 
    'AAAAAAACEEEEIIII'+
    'DNOOOOO.OUUUUY..'+
    'aaaaaaaceeeeiiii'+
    'dnooooo.ouuuuy.y'+
    'AaAaAaCcCcCcCcDd'+
    'DdEeEeEeEeEeGgGg'+
    'GgGgHhHhIiIiIiIi'+
    'IiIiJjKkkLlLlLlL'+
    'lJlNnNnNnnNnOoOo'+
    'OoOoRrRrRrSsSsSs'+
    'SsTtTtTtUuUuUuUu'+
    'UuUuWwYyYZzZzZz.';

function stripaccents(str){
    var answer='';
    for(var i=0;i<str.length;i++){
        var ch=str[i];
        var chindex=ch.charCodeAt(0)-192;   // Index of character code in the strip string
        if(chindex>=0 && chindex<stripstring.length){
            // Character is within our table, so we can strip the accent...
            var outch=stripstring.charAt(chindex);
            // ...unless it was shown as a '.'
            if(outch!='.')ch=outch;
        }
        answer+=ch;
    }
    return answer;
}