Objective: The objective of this article is to explorethe educational needs and design aspects ofpersonalised internet-enabled education for patientswith diabetes in Iran.Design: Data were collected using semistructuredinterviews and then qualitatively analysed usinginductive content analysis.Participants: 9 patients with type 2 diabetes wereincluded. Inclusion criteria were access to andknowledge on how to use the internet. The selectionensured representation based on gender, age,occupation and educational background.Setting: The sample population was patients withdiabetes who were admitted to an outpatient diabetesclinic in Mashhad, a large city of Iran with about 3million inhabitants.Results: 4 core categories emerged from the data: (1)seeking knowledge about diabetes, including specificknowledge acquisition, patient’s interactions andlearning requirements; (2) teaching and learning,including using different teaching methods anddifferent ways to learn about the disease; (3)facilitators, including internet and mobile phone use tolearn about the disease; and (4) barriers, including lackof internet access, uncertainty of access to the internetand lack of website in the local language and alsoperceived cultural barriers, such as patients’ fears ofthe internet, lack of time and awareness.Conclusions: This study provides a betterunderstanding of the patient’s educational expectationsand technical needs in relation to internet-enablededucation. This knowledge will inform the developmentof functional mock-ups in the next research phaseusing a design-based research approach in order todesign internet-enabled patient education for selfmanagementof diabetes.