I joined STEEMIT about 3 days ago and while I've been a lurker before then (You can see my introductory post here) I couldn't help but notice the countless number of tools mentioned here;
It was like been lost in a maze of goodies and its easy to feel overwhelmed. As newbies and minnows, we wonder if these tools can truly help us or should we just use them cos they've been placed in front of us on a platter of gold.
So here is a honest review of one of those tools VIPER from someone who has no stake and/or nothing to lose...,
WHAT IS THE VIPER-NETWORK AKA VIPER
According to their introductory post,
Viper is a web application written in Javascript that runs in the browser which enables you to create and consume digital contents such as blog posts, videos, sounds, and online courses, created and curated by a truly awesome community. Files mostly are stored on the top of IPFS (Inter Planetary File System) and LBRY which are both decentralized and highly stable systems resistant to various issues such as natural disasters and censorship.
If you really don't know what they are saying, you are not alone, i was lost too but let me try my best to break it down for you...,
Think of Viper as an elder brother that knows and sees everything about your family, and Steemit is that famliy. So in other words, Viper is a place where every form of media either written, audio or video ever created on steemit can be found (Please correct me if i am wrong)
But wait!!!
If it contains contents ever created on steemit, how then is it different from steemit?
This was the first thing i asked myself when i read their introductory post. And trust me it took a while to be able to answer this,, so sit still and follow me. Remember i said this would be a honest review.
So to answer this question;
I decided to visit their website and trust me at first glance i wasn't disappointed with the general aesthetics and feel of the site. It was like traveling to an alien planet for the first time but instead of meeting ugly looking monsters shooting green bullets at you, it was a gathering of beautiful people welcoming you with open arms and smiles.
DESIGN
The first thing you'll notice when you visit the site is the consistency with design,
the logo blends perfectly well with the entire website and you already have an idea what to expect.., If i may ask, what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of a Viper....,
VIPER: Cut throat and straight to the point, exotic, a thing of awe. That same feeling is what you get when you visit the site. It does take a little time to get use to since the look and feel is drastically different from steemit but once you get past that initial feeling, its so easy to appreciate the effort that was put into the front end design.
THE TAGS
The next thing you notice are the tags. Just like you have on steemit but with a very minimalist design. You have the article tag above and the video tag below, so if you ever want to just watch only videos or read only articles, you now have a very simple way to do so.
Now Lets go to;
THE PROS OF USING VIPER
1. Posts in Viper are shown in a grid view divided into 4 unique ways.., Trending, hot, active and newly created. The grid view ensures that you never miss any article. How many times have you gotten frustrated on steemit looking for interesting contents,,,? this brings us to.....,
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2. The Thumbnail and post summary function makes it very easy to find interesting posts and this is a good thing for readers and content creators. How many times have you created a content so good yet got ignored because it wasn't noticed. Yes, it happens to all of us. But with Viper, its easy to know which post is interesting and which is not cos you can already get a snippet from the thumbnail. If you are someone that loves to consume quality content, you'll definitely find this useful.
3. No Resteem; how can this be a good thing you might ask? And i'll counter by asking too, remember that time you saw a very good post from someone you admire on steemit, went to their blog to read more posts by them only to see resteemed post everywhere on their timeline, how did you feel? With viper, this problem is eliminated. Now you can concentrate on reading the posts of your favorite content creators without getting overly frustrated and distracted.
4. Print And Save As Pdf; Have you ever wanted to save an article to read later offline, or just print and give to a friend or have something solid at hand to always reference, then viper is a good fit.., the print tool is easy to locate and when you eventually decide to print...,the article becomes unbelievably well arranged.., ! Go ahead and give it a try.
THE CONS (WHAT THEY SHOULD WORK ON)
While the Viper.network is great, its still need a little finishing touches.
Like;
I didn't seem to see a search button. I wanted to search for a user-name, an article, etc but i couldn't.
Another thing is
When i click on my profile, my follower count and following count shows undefined.,.., Hopefully its just a minnow problem.
CONCLUSION
The truth is, this is a great platform. I can already see ways it would be beneficial to me and i hope the team at 
Would I Use This Tool?
Hell YES
Would i Recommend?
A BIG YES
That been said;
I want to use this medium to thank everyone that has one way or another contributed to the development of this great platform.
I'm ending this with a final note from the owners of Viper
VIPER stand for a better world with more equal opportunities through a fluid access to high quality free worldwide education and unbiased knowledge materials while reinforcing diversity and freedom of opinion.
Did I Miss Something? Did i say something in error? why don't you let me know in the comment below.