# Ancient Web: Philip Banks Built a Personal Web Fortress for Acorn Files Philip R. Banks's Web Fort Khantazi turns a personal homepage into a fictional fortress containing Acorn RISC OS programs, Java applets, poetry, anime notes and technical archives. 2026-10-09 :: Switchboard Tech Services ![Ancient Web: Philip Banks Built a Personal Web Fortress for Acorn Files](https://switchboardtechservices.com/static/images/defaults/articles.webp) Part of the [Ancient Web Collection](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-collection/). Most personal homepages greet visitors with a picture and a list of hobbies. **Web Fort Khantazi** greets them with an automated sentry speaking through the rain. [Enter Web Fort Khantazi](https://www.khantazi.org/) Its creator, **Philip R. Banks**, made his interests into the rooms of a fictional defensive installation. The entrance describes armored doors, color-coded corridors, robotic workers, and a notice board. Visitors can travel to an **Information Desk**, **Recreation Level**, **Power Complex**, **Transport Centre**, or **Archives**. The site is not a game in the conventional sense. Its fiction is the navigation system. ## The fort guards somebody's actual work Banks explains the idea on the [Why a Web Fort? page](https://www.khantazi.org/Why.html). A homepage is a way to look into its author's mind, he writes, so he chose a fortress partly to control which parts strangers could explore. He also connects the design to **Wellington, New Zealand**, a harbor city with a real fort overlooking it. The metaphor allows deliberate detours. Banks wanted visitors to wander through adjacent interests rather than land on one search-optimized page. He also deliberately kept graphics limited for readers on **modem connections like his own**. The [Archives](https://www.khantazi.org/Archives/Archives.html) are a splendid example of what those corridors hide. They link to programs Banks developed for **Acorn RISC OS**, Java applets with source code, scanned photographs used as desktop backdrops, a guide to **ARM processor families**, and a catalogue of Acorn computers. There are even illustrated repair notes for a **Ford Ka**. The [Recreation Level](https://www.khantazi.org/Rec/Rec.html) branches into anime, books, music, films, photography, poems, stories, and *Starsiege: Tribes*. An archive of [MoodSwings album notes](https://www.khantazi.org/Rec/MoodSwings/MoodSwings.html) resembles an opinionated personal CD shelf. A [historic link list in the site's help pages](https://www.khantazi.org/Help.html) includes year indexes extending through the **1990s and 2000s**. Those old entries, the Acorn software references, and the explanation about modem load times are stronger evidence of period character than the mere appearance of a stylized fantasy doorway. This is a homepage that makes browsing an act of exploration. The author's software, photographs, and opinions are still sitting in their imaginary rooms, awaiting a stranger willing to follow the colored stripe down the corridor. [Explore the fortress entrance](https://www.khantazi.org/) and [its RISC OS and document archive](https://www.khantazi.org/Archives/Archives.html). Part of the [Ancient Web Collection](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-collection/). - Categories: [Ancient Web](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/categories/ancient-web/) - Tags: [#ancientweb](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/ancientweb/), [#personalweb](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/personalweb/), [#webhistory](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/webhistory/), [#acorn](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/acorn/), [#riscos](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/riscos/) [Articles RSS](https://switchboardtechservices.com/feeds/articles.xml "Subscribe using an RSS reader") --- Canonical URL: https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-philip-banks-built-a-personal-web-fortress-for-acorn-files/ Language: en-us Content type: article Author: Switchboard Tech Services Published: 2026-10-10T03:50:34+00:00 Modified: 2026-10-18T21:04:13.170210+00:00