Trebuchet MS TrebuchetMS SP.svg Category Sans-serif Classification Humanist sans-serif Designer(s) Vincent Connare Foundry Microsoft Corporation Date released 1996 Examples of distinguishing characteristics Trebuchet MS is a sans-serif typeface that Vincent Connare designed for the Microsoft Corporation in 1996. It is named after the trebuchet, a medieval siege engine. The name was inspired by a puzzle question that Connare heard at Microsoft headquarters: "Can you make a trebuchet that could launch a person from main campus to the new consumer campus about a mile away? Mathematically, is it possible and how?" Connare "thought that would be a great name for a font that launches words across the Internet".[1] Trebuchet MS was the font used for the window titles in the Windows XP default theme, succeeding MS Sans Serif and Tahoma. Released free of charge by Microsoft as part of their core fonts for the Web package, it remains one of the most popular body text fonts on webpages.