Does a service exist to 'verify' the code in purchased Wordpress themes?

I know that I am new at this....but should their copy been rejected since yours was out back in 04 or do they do one way checks? Just wondering. Again I am newbie....just wondering all this all pans out.

The W3C Markup Validation Service <--- where else?

Know that even very known themes can throw lots of errors, thesis is one of them. BAD code. And good w3 validation DOES play a little role in rankings too.

Thanks George: I have used WC3 Validation services in the past, but it does turn up a lot of errors in some Wordpress themes, so I really don't know how to judge how bad or good the theme coding really is. I usually use themes by Brian Gardner - they all validate quite nicely, but this new theme has some 'interesting' errors that I'm not sure how to deal with.

Hi Val

'Clean' code could mean
(a) compliant (as in Georg's rec on W3C,
(b) tidy in a coders sense of elegant and complete coding - matter of which coder you ask though sometimes! (in html code a tool like 'tidy' helps - not sure if there is a php equivalent though, or
(c) free of malware and viral codes - which you wouldn't expect in a paid theme but can easily be included in the plethora of free wp themes - running a scan on the files may pick these up.

Having just been hacked on a wp site and had code implanted in various files I don't know we're ever safe! Then there's the issue of compatibility with plugins you may use - I've used paid and free wp themes and had issues with both on that front.

Does it matter? IMHO, so long as it's compliant, compatible and scans clean then I wouldn't worry too much about how tidy the code is. If the theme doesn;t work on my site (eg needs php5 and I can only get php4 on my host) or it's not compatible with some of the plugins I need to use then I'd chat with the supplier and see what they can do to assist. Most reputable theme vendors will try to accommodate you if you get back to them quickly.

All the best
Mel