diff --git a/common/content/hints.js b/common/content/hints.js
index 9538f4fe..ecbfd8b2 100644
--- a/common/content/hints.js
+++ b/common/content/hints.js
@@ -693,6 +693,18 @@ function compileMatcher(list) {
         });
 }
 
+function validateMatcher(values) {
+    let evaluator = services.XPathEvaluator();
+    let node = util.xmlToDom(<div/>, document);
+    return this.testValues(values, function (value) {
+        if (/^xpath:/.test(value))
+            evaluator.createExpression(value.substr(6), util.evaluateXPath.resolver);
+        else
+            node.querySelector(value);
+        return true;
+    });
+}
+
 var Hints = Module("hints", {
     init: function init() {
         this.resizeTimer = Timer(100, 500, function () {
@@ -1205,7 +1217,7 @@ var Hints = Module("hints", {
                         value.matcher = compileMatcher(Option.splitList(value.result));
                     return vals;
                 },
-                validator: Option.validateXPath
+                validator: validateMatcher
             });
 
         options.add(["hinttags", "ht"],
@@ -1218,7 +1230,7 @@ var Hints = Module("hints", {
                     this.matcher = compileMatcher(values);
                     return values;
                 },
-                validator: Option.validateXPath
+                validator: validateMatcher
             });
 
         options.add(["hintkeys", "hk"],
diff --git a/common/modules/options.jsm b/common/modules/options.jsm
index 7a9452fc..7f53d6be 100644
--- a/common/modules/options.jsm
+++ b/common/modules/options.jsm
@@ -687,13 +687,6 @@ var Option = Class("Option", {
         if (this.type === "regexpmap" || this.type === "sitemap")
             return Array.concat(values).every(function (re) acceptable.some(function (item) item[0] == re.result));
         return Array.concat(values).every(function (value) acceptable.some(function (item) item[0] == value));
-    },
-
-    validateXPath: function (values) {
-        return true; // For now.
-        let evaluator = services.XPathEvaluator();
-        return this.testValues(values,
-            function (value) evaluator.createExpression(value, util.evaluateXPath.resolver));
     }
 });
 
diff --git a/pentadactyl/NEWS b/pentadactyl/NEWS
index e8d2ca69..c5e6ea40 100644
--- a/pentadactyl/NEWS
+++ b/pentadactyl/NEWS
@@ -129,6 +129,8 @@
       - :delstyle, :styleenable, :styledisable and :styletoggle accept a !
         to operate on all styles. [b6]
     * IMPORTANT option changes:
+      - 'hinttags' and 'extendedhinttags' now treat their values as
+        CSS selectors by default. [b6]
       - Option value quoting has changed. List options will
         no longer be split at quoted commas and the option name, operators, and
         = sign may no longer be quoted. This will break certain