## 1 Introduction  
Internet use today is increasingly enabling patients to manage their everyday care supported by interactive components. The accumulated daily experiences of patients and parents form a knowledge base from which information can be shared with others [1,2]. Complementary to traditional authorities, new online resources, including peer contacts, may offer trustworthy information or add credibility to information [1]. Young people with long-term health problems like the concept of one site tailored to answer their questions; active forum discussion boards and chat rooms are perceived as attractions of great value [3, 4, 5]. Parents may inform other parents regarding a wide range of issues, as can adolescents and children, on their own level, based on their maturity and autonomy. Online communities have been used for a decade or more [2,6,7], and users include young people living with diabetes [4]. Recent research demonstrates how online support groups may contribute to patient empowerment [8].  
Health professionals need to tailor services for adolescents with long-term health problems appropriately [3,9].  
Access to updated patient information from practitioners might enhance the evolution of empowered patients; thus electronic communication is promising for diabetes care [10,11]. However, in a recent review, it was found that technology-based interventions rarely support patient-practitioner collaboration aimed at a better balance between self-care and professional care [12]. Few studies have focused on young users' perspectives; _i.e._, patients relating experiences in their own words, and much remains to be learned [13, 14, 15]. In a recent survey from Sweden among 12-15 year-olds, 91% have already been searching online for answers to questions on health issues [16]. We have found few information systems in routine use in pediatric diabetes care that have been developed and evaluated in collaboration with children and their families [17, 18, 19, 20].  
Management of childhood type 1 diabetes requires daily intensive self-treatment, including numerous daily decisions regarding adaptation of treatment to the current life scenario [21,22]. Variation of the disease over time, along with the disease trajectory and the course of individual development, require attention and support for self-care in a long-term perspective [10,21,23]. In patients' and parents' perspective on quality of care, improvements are needed regarding information and access to services [23]. Young patients, their families and significant others perceive a wide range of information and support needs which can be well understood and verified from a clinical perspective [3,21, 22, 23, 24, 25].  
The umbrella terms Web 2.0, Health 2.0 and Medicine 2.0 mirror a development area with a range of collaborative Internet applications facilitating user participation and co-creation of online health information [1].  
Perception means the knowledge gained from a process of coming to know or understand something, implying the ability to understand inner qualities and relationships. Previously we have explored the perceptions of practitioners and families involved in a trial with a diabetes Web 2.0 portal, but only in a password-protected setting and data were obtained mainly from adults [3,25]. Thus little has been known about the views of children and adolescents themselves on such resources provided openly on the Internet.