A major limitation of the web has been the small number of text fonts that could be safely used.

This is because display of text fonts depends on them being installed on the computer they are being viewed on. And there are only a few fonts that are universal enough that you can count on their being available. Like Times New Roman and Arial (or Helvetica, its near cousin on Apple machines).

Inevitably, someone would come up with a workable solution.

First several companies, including Typekit and Google developed online font depositories which could be easily referenced and used on people's website.

Now you can add your own, even custom fonts to Typekit:

Customize the Web With Your Own Fonts

Sky's the limit folks.