Thinking about getting a Woo Themes Developer Club Subscription

[vandalais]

I'm thinking about getting a Woo Themes developer club subscription. Any of you guys or gals have one and how has your experience been? Do you think it's worth the money or do you think Themeforest's al a carte model is a better route to go. I'm particularly concerned about the security of the code used on both platform. My thought process is that Woo Theme's in house development should in theory have a higher security review process. Also how do you determine if a Themeforest theme is secure without having to analyze the code?

Thanks,
Keith

[Ryan]

Also how do you determine if a Themeforest theme is secure without having to analyze the code?

You can't. Analyzing the code is the only way.

You could use the WordPress Theme Checker plugin which provides warnings when code likely to be a sign of a malicious theme pops up. It's not 100% reliable though as themes sometimes have good reasons for using code which is predominantly used in malware ridden themes.

[PressedIn]

WooThemes was an excellent investment, IMO. I bought one from Nick over at ElegantThemes as well. If you create or develop multiple websites, it's a steal. If you're more a single website person, ThemeForest is probably a good alternative and they have quite a few very nice themes available.

As for theme security, the only incident I can recall off-hand with WooThemes is the recent TimThumb security issue, but they have since fixed it. In comparison, WooThemes has a team of people ready to help. At ThemeForest, you're most likely (not always) dealing with one person.

[Jeffro]

Just to add on to what Jonathan said regarding support, this is something WooThemes has to provide as part of you purchasing the license. Last time I checked, individual theme authors at Themeforest do not have to provide support. Granted, most do because they'd be fooling not to.

[PressedIn]

Last I recall, ThemeForest does not require members to provide support. At WooThemes support is provided with purchase of a single theme, bundle of themes, or a developer membership.

[MiroslavGlavic]

get a pluging called TAC (Theme Authenticity Checker). Just search for TAC