Better variable name: what was the "format specification type" is more correctly the "presentation type", now (as per the documentation: https://docs.python.org/2.7/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language).
More explicit docstring.
"format type" or "format specification type" -> "presentation type", as per the documentation (https://docs.python.org/2.7/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language).
More consistent punctuation.