diff --git a/doc/syntastic-checkers.txt b/doc/syntastic-checkers.txt
index c983cee3..7453201e 100644
--- a/doc/syntastic-checkers.txt
+++ b/doc/syntastic-checkers.txt
@@ -3197,7 +3197,7 @@ run the checks against "https://validator.w3.org/", or set it to
 
                                                *'g:syntastic_html_w3_doctype'*
 Type: string
-Default: ""
+Default: "HTML5"
 Name of the document type definition to use for checking.  If unspecified, the
 type is detected from the file content.  Currently supported values for HTML:
 
@@ -6697,7 +6697,7 @@ See also: |syntastic-html-validator|, |syntastic-xhtml-validator|.
 2. W3                                                      *syntastic-svg-w3*
 
 Name:        w3
-Maintainer:  Martin Grenfell <martin.grenfell@gmail.com>
+Maintainer:  Kevin Locke <kevin@kevinlocke.name>
 
 "W3" is the W3C Markup Validator for SVG.  See the project's page for
 details:
@@ -6727,10 +6727,9 @@ run the checks against "https://validator.w3.org/", or set it to
 
                                                 *'g:syntastic_svg_w3_doctype'*
 Type: string
-Default: "SVG 1.1" (if not detected from DTD)
-Name of the document type definition to use for checking.  If unspecified, the
-type is detected from a Document Type Declaration, if present, or "SVG 1.1" is
-used.  Currently supported values for SVG:
+Default: "SVG 1.1"
+Name of the document type definition to use for checking. Currently supported
+values for SVG:
 
   - SVG 1.0
   - SVG 1.1
@@ -7768,7 +7767,7 @@ See also: |syntastic-html-validator|, |syntastic-svg-validator|.
 5. W3                                                     *syntastic-xhtml-w3*
 
 Name:        w3
-Maintainer:  Martin Grenfell <martin.grenfell@gmail.com>
+Maintainer:  Kevin Locke <kevin@kevinlocke.name>
 
 "W3" is the W3C Markup Validator for XHTML.  See the project's page for
 details:
@@ -7798,7 +7797,7 @@ run the checks against "https://validator.w3.org/", or set it to
 
                                               *'g:syntastic_xhtml_w3_doctype'*
 Type: string
-Default: ""
+Default: "XHTML 1.1"
 Name of the document type definition to use for checking.  If unspecified, the
 type is detected from the file content.  Currently supported values for XHTML:
 
diff --git a/plugin/syntastic.vim b/plugin/syntastic.vim
index 5fe99770..b1980c5b 100644
--- a/plugin/syntastic.vim
+++ b/plugin/syntastic.vim
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ if has('reltime')
     lockvar! g:_SYNTASTIC_START
 endif
 
-let g:_SYNTASTIC_VERSION = '3.9.0-25'
+let g:_SYNTASTIC_VERSION = '3.9.0-29'
 lockvar g:_SYNTASTIC_VERSION
 
 " Sanity checks {{{1
diff --git a/syntax_checkers/html/w3.vim b/syntax_checkers/html/w3.vim
index 1d9f8d9e..efe898df 100644
--- a/syntax_checkers/html/w3.vim
+++ b/syntax_checkers/html/w3.vim
@@ -21,43 +21,35 @@ set cpo&vim
 " Constants {{{1
 
 let s:DEFAULTS = {
-    \ 'api':      'https://validator.w3.org/check',
-    \ 'doctype':  '' }
-
-let s:CONTENT_TYPE = {
-    \ 'html': 'text/html',
-    \ 'svg':  'image/svg+xml',
-    \ 'xhtml': 'application/xhtml+xml' }
+    \ 'html': {
+        \ 'ctype':   'text/html',
+        \ 'doctype': 'HTML5' },
+    \ 'svg': {
+        \ 'ctype':   'image/svg+xml',
+        \ 'doctype': 'SVG 1.1' },
+    \ 'xhtml': {
+        \ 'ctype':   'application/xhtml+xml',
+        \ 'doctype': 'XHTML 1.1' } }
 
 " }}}1
 
-" @vimlint(EVL101, 1, l:api)
+" @vimlint(EVL101, 1, l:ctype)
 " @vimlint(EVL101, 1, l:doctype)
-" @vimlint(EVL104, 1, l:doctype)
 function! SyntaxCheckers_html_w3_GetLocList() dict " {{{1
     let buf = bufnr('')
     let type = self.getFiletype()
     let fname = syntastic#util#shescape(fnamemodify(bufname(buf), ':p'))
-
-    for key in keys(s:DEFAULTS)
-        let l:{key} = syntastic#util#var(type . '_w3_' . key, get(s:DEFAULTS, key))
+    let api = syntastic#util#var(type . '_w3_api', 'https://validator.w3.org/check')
+.
+    for key in keys(s:DEFAULTS[type])
+        let l:{key} = syntastic#util#var(type . '_w3_' . key, get(s:DEFAULTS[type], key))
     endfor
-    let ctype = get(s:CONTENT_TYPE, type, '')
-
-    " SVG is detected as generic XML if doctype is unspecified.
-    " Default "SVG 1.1" with "Only if missing" (fbd=1) to use DTD if present.
-    let fbd = ''
-    if type ==# 'svg' && doctype ==# ''
-        let doctype = 'SVG 1.1'
-        let fbd = '1'
-    endif
 
     " vint: -ProhibitUsingUndeclaredVariable
     let makeprg = self.getExecEscaped() . ' -q -L -s --compressed -F output=json' .
         \ (doctype !=# '' ? ' -F doctype=' . syntastic#util#shescape(doctype) : '') .
-        \ (fbd !=# '' ? ' -F fbd=' . fbd : '') .
         \ ' -F uploaded_file=@' . fname .
-            \ (ctype !=# '' ? '\;type=' . ctype : '') .
+            \ '\;type=' . ctype .
             \ '\;filename=' . fname .
         \ ' ' . api
     " vint: ProhibitUsingUndeclaredVariable
@@ -86,8 +78,7 @@ function! SyntaxCheckers_html_w3_GetLocList() dict " {{{1
     return loclist
 endfunction " }}}1
 " @vimlint(EVL104, 0, l:doctype)
-" @vimlint(EVL101, 0, l:doctype)
-" @vimlint(EVL101, 0, l:api)
+" @vimlint(EVL101, 0, l:ctype)
 
 call g:SyntasticRegistry.CreateAndRegisterChecker({
     \ 'filetype': 'html',