List of fonts installed by default in versions of Windows?

Question

I've been seeing more and more websites using fancy antialiased fonts. Every time I hit one, I think to myself "hmm, what web-safe font is that?" - but after looking at the CSS I typically find some font name in quotes, like "Palatino Linotype". Obviously not web-safe, but according to the Wikipedia article, "Palatino Linotype is shipped with Windows 2000 or later, and Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003." So that covers what, 95% of users that might visit your website? And thanks to the power of CSS, the website can fallback to a similar generic font typename such as 'serif' for non-Windows users with a line like this:

font: 16px/20px "Palatino Linotype", serif; 

Awesome! I want to start using fancy fonts!

Is there a set of lists out there, of the fonts that are preinstalled by default in Windows 98, 2000, NT, ME, XP, 2003, etc., and maybe for the Mac OSX versions and various Linux distributions as well? It would be a great reference for picking web font faces!

(if not, someone should compile it!)

I had never before heard of Palatino Linotype and I want to know what other fonts have existed since old Windows versions that I've never known about!

Answer 1

You're looking for Core Fonts for the Web.

In general the term you're interested in is "web-safe" or "browser-safe" fonts. There is a nice list here.

Answer 2

You may want to have a look at Standard Windows Fonts.

Answer 3

This is another very good reference:

http://www.fonttester.com/help/list_of_web_safe_fonts.html

Notice that it is designed so you can copy and paste an entire line and put it directly into your CSS! Best of luck.