How Do I Choose a Quality WordPress Theme/Framework?

When selecting a theme or framework, we recommend doing your research. Here are a few basic guidelines to follow when choosing a theme.

1. Make sure the theme author/shop is reputable and uses current WordPress coding standards.
2. Read reviews. There are millions of themes available. Find out what others from the WordPress community have experienced.
3. Look at the authors'/shop update release logs. Do they push out updates when needed to support new core releases?
4. Are the authors active in the community? Do they contribute to WordPress core and/or the theme, plugin repository?
5. Support, is there a strong community of theme support? Do the authors actively engage their customers through support forums?