Hi Lynn-- I think this is such a great project! I have a few answers to your questions and a few thoughts about things you didn't ask about. I hope you are ok with this.

First, it is definitely a challenge to develop a site for those who are not as comfortable with the internet-- the problem is, you want to keep it simple to understand and use without compromising your content or limiting your visitors who are internet savvy. The best way to do this is to keep the organization clear and simple (basic good design skills) but not try to limit the content or resources. You shouldn't have to avoid reference links or even questions/comments-- but you do want to clearly distinguish them from the normal navigation and site text. This can be done by creating special zones for these things, using special fonts or introducing them with a label.. "Recipe Source" or "Check out these other web sites for more healthy recipes". So many of the things that make a site more understandable and more usable are really just common sense and good design skills.

I am concerned that you think your site is more private than it is-- unless you've turned off the search engine bots, your blog may turn up in someone's google search. As you add more recipes and reference links, your site pages are more likely to turn up in search results. Say you add a recipe for Eating Well's Whole Wheat Pizza Crust, for instance, when I search for "Eating Well" + "Pizza crust" there's a chance I will get a hit for a page on your site. Also, other bloggers and sites can see where visitors are being referred FROM so your site url will be revealed to the site owners/administrators at the least. And don't forget that your more savvy/social patients may pin your pages to a pinterest board. (This is how I manage my own recipes-- by saving them to pinterest boards). Once pinned, they are public and your site page is accessible to anyone who clicks the pin.

The ONLY way to prevent this is to add a gate of sorts. Most commonly, this is a user ID and password. I get why you wouldn't want to do this-- it's not just the elderly who forget their user IDs and passwords! Perhaps it is just a simple question that all patients would know the answer to-- but before I went to the trouble of coming up with a gate that meets your needs and isn't simple to bust, I'd strongly consider if it is really necessary to keep the site private. What do you gain? and what do you lose?

It is common courtesy to list the source of a recipe but the reality is, you will see the same recipes repeated all over the internet -- some citing the original source, some not. Some sites document their expectations for republishing their recipes and they often times request a link back reference. Remember, many of these food bloggers are running their sites as businesses. Their traffic equates to $$$.

I know I didnt answer all of your questions and I have countered your position to keep your site private. I am not so much dissuading you as making sure you are aware of exactly how private vs. public your site is.

I'd be happy to make recommendations on how to make your site easier to use for the elderly-- this is something I have some experience with. It would be easiest to do by accessing your site but I could also give you suggestions based on screen shots (though they may be more limited). Just reach out to me directly if you'd find this helpful .. and no worries/bad feelings if you'd rather not.

It's a great project-- Love that you can and are willing to share your experience and expertise with your husband's patients! I wish you and the patients great success!

Funky, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I'll send you an email in a few days. Easter prep is upon me at the moment.

Kitschy: how kind of you to say that! Thank you. DH is the kindest, most caring, smartest, most down-to-earth physician I've ever known . . . and I worked in hospitals for many years before meeting and marrying him, so I do know docs. He got into medicine, not to make a lot of money, but because he felt so strongly about helping people. All these many years later, he's never changed, just feels more strongly than ever about it. His many patients love him, too.

Lynn, Good for you! How "proper" do you want to be? Following is APA formatting information. Purdue does a nice job nterpreting APA guidelines.

@kits, Disagree with your comment, "vast majority." Unfortunately, I find many of my patients do not want to hear about exercise/rest, lifestyle, and nutrition.

http://www.apastyle.org/learn/quick-guide-on-references.aspx

When you post recipes that you have tried from another site would you then type it up yourself or would you just link to the site from where you found the recipe. The reason I ask is because so many of those recipe sites have pages of comments as well - something which your patients may not be interested.

I do a lot of recipe searching and I come across duplicate recipes on different sites all the time. There is often 1 change in 1 ingredient (eg I have a muffin recipe and the only difference is one recipe calls for apple sauce and the other calls for grated apple) otherwise the recipes are identical and there is no reference from one to the other, or perhaps changing one ingredient now makes it original. The two recipes may have come from a third one for all I know. (This process always reminds me of writing a term paper - you know, does using a synonym of a word but leaving the sentence the same now make it original?)

When linking sites it is really important to make it very obvious - use a title, separate from the text and then the link. If your patients are elderly, the link would need to be very noticeable with a very distinct difference in colour from your normal text.

I hope I'm not being presumptuous especially as I know nothing about your patients and I'm sure you're aware of this - try to keep the recipes that you choose simple and using normal everyday ingredients if possible. For eg - flax seed. Yes, it's a very healthy ingredient and I use it but my 86 year old mother who still cooks for herself wouldn't have a clue as to what it is. If the recipe does call for a newer ingredient perhaps suggest where it can be found in the store.

Re point 3 - Funkyart is correct. If I search medical health blogs I could easily wind up on your blog unless you have it protected. And even then, if someone has taken a recipe or info from your blog and put it on pinterest I will have access to it. If I click onto it and then click "view page" I could wind up on your blog. I don't know how you can prevent that from happening.

I have two friends one is a chiropractor and the other is a nutritionist and they both have their own blogs which I really enjoy reading. Good luck with your endeavor. It sounds like a great idea.

Perhaps this will help.

Is this a blog only current patients would be able to see? The only reason I ask is that If it is also for potential new patients I would be very thoughtful in what I posted - maybe just representing various different approaches to health.

My 2 cents anyway. I had been very interested in visiting this Dr.... http://www.fransussman.com/

but when I dug more in to what she recommends It seemed to stress things that go against the nutrition principles that I am striving to follow. So now I will move on to find someone else. She may or may not have been supportive of it (it is not some crazy thing) but I just didnt want to have a debate, especially since she is not covered by insurance.

That may be her intention, which is fine, but I wondered if she realized how it came across.....

Lynn, I haven't read all the comments, so maybe this was suggested already. Why not just have an electronic newsletter with the content you want and send it to the patients each month? Your husband's practice could gather email addresses and permission to contact via the newsletter, with an opt out to unsubscribe. I'm sure you could link to what you want without risk of others accessing the newsletter.

OK I admit I skimmed, then skipped down, so someone may've already said this. If so, apologies, but I don't see why you can't post both the text of a recipe & a link to the site of origin - perhaps hyperlinked in the named credit. I see that all the time in other aggregator sites. That way folks can click through if they wish & the source can enjoy some increased traffic as a thank you.

As a food blogger, I will say that you MUST ask for permission to reprint, and you MUST credit. You are in violation of copyright if you do not.

Even if you alter the recipe, you should credit from whom and where it was adapted from.

I think it's bad form to NOT provide a link in all cases.

You would not be happy if someone did that to you and your DH's original work, and although you seem to be laboring under the illusion that your blog will somehow be private-it won't.

I'd also reconsider this "members only" aspect of the blog. Say a patient wants to share an article or recipe-how can they if your blog is password protected?

It just seems against the grain of a blog that is meant to promote health and well being, not to be shared and disseminated so it can help the greatest amount of people.

I hope you reconsider sharing such a beneficial blog with the spirit that blogs are meant to be.

Also, consider the interactive part, which gets some "skin in the game" for users. Allow comments (really, the "old folks can't figure it out" is rather patronizing). They are more likely to stick with your blog if they feel involved. Maybe a Q&A every so often?

Good luck!

FWIW, according to Annie Deighnaugh's link above (& I sort of knew this already), a list of ingredients & basic directions are not subject to copyright law - only additional text that could be considered expressive like a story that goes with it & descriptions, etc., which I'm assuming means the 'chatty' kind of recipes w/ additional text.

Thank you all so much for all the input. Right at the moment we are at our annual big Easter Day celebration, surrounded by a group of close friends and lots of hyper preschoolers hunting Easter eggs. I will get back here tomorrow. Am off to help the kiddos.

Right, Carol.. I didn't address that in my post but meant to. All the better, Annie's link set it out very clearly.

The truth is, supporting a site for the older population DOES present some support challenges -- and ones that Lynn and her DH may not want to support given this is something she's doing in her spare time. I get that. Yes, some elders do very well online-- both my mother and my grandmother (when she was alive0 were "connected" and I am surprised by how many "grandmas" and "great grandmas" post on facebook-- quite capably! But not all seniors have the ability and inclination to become that comfortable.

I'm back. Thank you all for your ideas, advice and help. It is so much appreciated! To address a few of the questions:

~ As Funkyart mentioned, I am doing this in my spare time. I don't want to "go public" at least, not at this time because (1) I'm just getting started with it and, even though I've written and edited for local publications in the past, I don't want to get in over my head; (2) A number of DH's patients have expressed great interest in my recipes and small articles about current medical topics or news, but have told him that they don't want to join anything online. They want to keep it simple . . . and keep their own identities private to others accessing the same site.

~ I do think, after reading your comments, that I'm going to forego links to other sites. Why? Again, to keep it private. I'd forgotten about how linking works both ways. While DH is happy to advise his own patients, he definitely isn't keen on advising a large group of strangers.

~ Our nephew has helped me to set up this blog site so that it does not have any advertising. We don't want to end up with advertisements for meds that DH doesn't recommend. As an aside, if there's one thing most docs dislike with a passion, it's having their patients come in asking for a specific med that they've seen advertised on tv, online or in a periodical!

~ I think that I'm going to take Funky's advise and get this blog password protected after all. The argument for it makes so much sense! A simple password that all his patients can remember. Perhaps the first name of one of his staff or the street his clinic is on.

Olychick: I'm starting to regret that I hadn't thought of an electronic newsletter before I started - and paid for- this blog site!

Annie: THANK YOU for that link!!!!! That helps me so much. I've bookmarked it for future reference. And Carol, thanks for reiterating the basic concept for everyone else.

More answered questions:

~ I don't want comments or interaction with the patients because (1) I'm only doing this in my spare time and don't want to be responsible for monitoring it on a daily or even weekly basis. And, (2) I can picture someone making a comment on how they might change a recipe. This wouldn't bother me at all if it were in keeping with the basic premise of a low fat, low sugar, low empty carb, high fiber . . . but always, great-tasting recipe that my site promotes. I could end up having all sorts of unhealthful changes suggested. And (3) my sweet hubby is too busy already with his practice. I know that he would NOT appreciate having to answer any medical questions on this blog (LOL!).

Mimi: I didn't mean to be patronizing. It's just that many of DH's patients have already discussed this with him and have told him and his staff that they aren't interested in "navigating the internet" and asked him to please keep it simple and direct. And so that's what I'm trying very hard to do. If his was just a young professionals kind of practice, I wouldn't hesitate to add more, but it's a very mixed bag of patients. As for linking other sites, I understand your argument to do it, but I think I'd open up a proverbial "can of worms" that I'm not ready or equipped to deal with at this time.

FWIW, you could still name the original source w/o linking & anyone interested & able can do a web search to find it, if they wish. Just thinking about CYA....

Good idea, Carol! Thanks, I like that idea.

Lynn, I think it is great what you are doing! The effort involved to gather, document and publish recipes and relevant topics is substantial and will surely provide great benefit to your DH's patients! Given the amount of work-- and the knowledge that you do not want to take on advertising or provide a Q&A forum, I think you are going in the right direction. I don't know that there's a need to CYA -- however, it's always good to provide a means for those who ARE more technically savvy to find more of what you're offering... but let's be real. If they ARE technically savvy, they can do their own web searches. I assume you are providing recipes, techniques and tips that the patients can adopt not just for one recipe but as part of their lifestyle.. so surely they'll be able to carry forward even when they find recipes elsewhere.

Do check with your nephew to ensure he's included the code to direct the search engine bots to skip your site-- this too will help keep it locked down and private.

Again, what a wonderful service you are providing! Big kudos to you!