Well, four styles if you count the original.

Feed auto-discovery (originally “RSS auto-discovery”) was first “specified” in two blog posts by Mark Pilgrim: RSS auto-discovery and Important change to the LINK tag. Those two blog posts have been the standard reference for the last four years. Now in the span of the last couple of weeks, three attempts to specify feed auto-discovery have emerged.

1. The HTML5 draft definitions for feed and alternate

2. The resurrected Atom Feed Autodiscovery Internet Draft

3. The RSS Autodiscovery document from the RSS Advisory Board

I find it amusing how these three documents show the different spec writing styles practiced in the three different groups (“communities” is such an over-used word) around HTML5, Atom and RSS. Not only that, the way the drafts have been discussed and the way the RSS document exited draft status also exemplifies how these three groups work.

I am biased, of course, but I like the WHATWG style best.

Which style do you prefer?