of said completion the invention allows handwriting recognition that is significantly more reliable and easier to use than prior art techniques application_number US 1006204 A description reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the invention examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings fig1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the method of the present invention relating to on line handwriting recognition at step 101 at least one auxiliary line is displayed on a touch sensitive panel each of the at least one auxiliary line constitutes a portion of more than one character of a character set that is each auxiliary line has been pre selected so that the auxiliary line is a part of at least two characters the more characters of the character set a single auxiliary line is a part of the more characters can be drawn by completing the auxiliary line a character of the character set is drawn on the touch sensitive panel by completing one of the at least one auxiliary line into the intended character step 102 in other words only the missing parts of the intended character are drawn by the user around the auxiliary line the drawn character is then at step 103 recognized on the basis of the completion that is the drawn character.