📚 Part of the series Application Building Phase II: The Slate-hosted Application

The Slate-hosted application consists of two types of pages:

• Menu pages, which appear in the application’s sidebar menu

• Non-menu pages, like login, logout, and password reset, which aren’t in the sidebar menu

This article explores each of these Slate-hosted application pages, and, where possible, shows you how you can replace the page with one built from a form.

You can organize these pages in the Application Editor.

Menu pages

Menu pages are the pages that appear in the sidebar menu of the Slate-hosted application.

Newer databases are provisioned from either a 4-year, 2-year, or K-12 model. These models include different application pages by default. In these databases, you can find all of your Slate-hosted application pages in Forms → All Folders → Slate-Hosted Application Pages.

These forms are also linked from the application page overview in the Application Editor:

Instructions

The default instructions page features placeholder text that you can replace with general instructions for the applicant.

Personal background

The personal background page is a custom form page that collects, by default, biographical information like name, address, email, phone number, sex/gender, citizenship, social security number, and race/ethnicity.

Fields collecting race/ethnicity information are inactive by default.

📖 Make your own custom personal background page.

The custom personal background page replaces the default per page, a legacy feature.

📖 Personal information page (legacy)

Enrollment information

The enrollment information page is a custom form page that collects, by default, application type, student type, enrollment status, and preferred start term.

These fields are intentionally basic: what we’ve provided may not apply to your application. The prompts we provide for the Application Type form field, for example, are undergraduate and graduate—these might be covered by your application round.

Like the instructions page, this page does not replace a default Slate-hosted application page.

Education history

The education history page is a custom form page that includes three forms:

• School: This table lets applicants build out their academic history by adding institutions, their level of study, and transcripts.

• Courses: For any of the institutions added in the school table, applicants can add accompanying course information.

• School report: Inactive on the form by default, applicants can use this widget to initiate a school report from a faculty member from an institution listed in their history.

📖 Make your own custom education history page or school report form.

Find all forms relating to the education history page in Forms → Folders → Slate-Hosted Application Pages → Education History.

Test scores

The test scores page is a default (as opposed to custom) application page, represented by the part ID tes.

When the applicant selects Add Test, a pop-up appears. Tests you’ve added in Database → Tests appear to the applicant in the Type list.

When they select a test type, form fields for that type appear.

📝 The functionality on the Test Scores page cannot currently be replaced with a custom form page.

To configure settings on the Test Scores page:

1. Go to Database → Application Editor.

2. Select the application base for which you’d like to make changes.

3. Select Test Scores.

4. Select General Settings.

5. Configure the following settings:

   • Custom Title: Enter a title to override the default, Test Scores.

   • Instructions: Add instructional text to appear before the test widget.

6. Select Save.

📖 Configure your database to receive test scores

References

The reference process involves three forms:

• Reference page: The shell that hosts the widget form, the table on which applicants can select Add Reference.

• Reference widget form: The form in the pop-up that appears when the applicant selects Add Reference.

• External reference form: When a reference receives the notification email that they’ve been requested to provide a recommendation, they arrive at this form

📖 Make your own custom references page.

You can find all of these forms in Forms → All Folders → Slate-Hosted Application Pages → References.

Here’s that process broken down:

The reference process

When the applicant selects Add Reference, a pop-up appears. Here, they’re prompted to enter the reference’s contact information, leave a personal message to the reference, and either waive or retain their Buckley Amendment rights.

When the applicant selects Save, Slate sends a system email to the reference’s email address. This email contains the link to the external reference form.

Relationships

The relationships page is a custom form page that includes a relation-scoped widget table.

The relationships page involves two forms:

• Relationships page: The shell that hosts the widget form, the table on which applicants can select Add Relation.

• Relationships widget form: The form in the pop-up that appears when the applicant selects Add Relation.

📖 Make your own custom relationships page.

You can find these two forms in Forms → All Folders → Slate-Hosted Application Pages → Relationships.

Employment history

The employment history page is a custom form page that includes a job-scoped widget table.

The employment history page involves two forms:

• Employment history page: The shell that hosts the widget form, the table on which applicants can select Add Job.

• Employment history widget form: The form in the pop-up that appears when the applicant selects Add Job.

📖 Make your own custom employment history page.

You can find these two forms in Forms → All Folders → Slate-Hosted Application Pages → Employment History.

Sports

The sports page is a custom form page that includes a sport-scoped widget table.

The sports page involves two forms:

• Sports page: The shell that hosts the widget form, the table on which applicants can select Add Sport.

• Sports widget form: The form in the pop-up that appears when the applicant selects Add Sport.

📖 Make your own custom sports page.

You can find these two forms in Forms → All Folders → Slate-Hosted Application Pages → Sports.

Activities/Interests

The activities/interests page is a custom form page that includes a sport-scoped widget table.

The sports page involves two forms:

• Activities/interests page: The shell that hosts the widget form, the table on which applicants can select Add Activity/Interest.

• Activities/interests widget form: The form in the pop-up that appears when the applicant selects Add Activity/Interest.

📖 Make your own custom activities/interests page.

You can find these two forms in Forms → All Folders → Slate-Hosted Application Pages → Activities/Interests.

Signature

The signature page is comprised of an application-page scoped form with a single text field mapped to sys:app:app_signature.

Review

The review page is a default (as opposed to custom) application page, represented by the part ID review.

On this page, applicants who haven’t satisfied all submission requirements find a list of items remaining to be completed.

📝 The functionality on the review page cannot currently be replaced with a custom form page.

To configure settings on the review page:

1. Go to Database → Application Editor.

2. Select the application base for which you’d like to make changes.

3. Select Review.

4. Select General Settings.

Configure the following settings:

Custom title

Enter a title to override the default, Review.

Instructions

Add instructional text that appears before any hard/soft fail warnings and list of items for review.

Download application proof

Let applicants download a PDF proof of their application.

You can set a template for this proof by uploading a template PDF named application.pdf in Database → Files under the path apply/.

Select one of the following:

• Show when PDF exists: The Preview Application Proof link only appears when Slate finds a /apply/application.pdf file.

• Show always: The Preview Application Proof link appears with or without a custom /apply/application.pdf file. If there is no custom PDF, Slate generates a PDF from the auto-PDF template.

• Hide always: The Preview Application Proof link does not appear.

Download custom help

Replaces the default help text that accompanies the Preview Application Proof link.

Submission custom help

Adds custom help text before the Submit Application and Save for Later buttons.

Custom label for submit application

Replaces the default Submit Application button text.

Custom label for finalize application and pay

When you require payment to submit an application, you replace the Submit Application button with one that says Finalize Application and Pay, which leads the applicant to a payment page.

Enter a custom message in this field to replace the default Finalize Application and Pay message.

Custom prompt for submit confirmation

Select one of the following:

• None: Does not display a custom prompt for submit confirmation.

• Show: Displays a custom prompt for submit confirmation.

• Show with Custom Label: Displays a custom label for submission confirmation, which you can enter in the text field that appears.

• Hide: Hides a custom prompt for submit confirmation.

Digital portfolio

The digital portfolio page lets applicants upload multimedia. The functionality on this page can be customized by replacing it with a custom form page that uses the material uploader widget.

📖 The digital portfolio page

Photo upload

Like the digital portfolio page, the photo upload page lets applicants upload media, but in this case limited to just image files (BMP, GIF, JPEG, and PNG).  The functionality on this page can be customized by replacing it with a custom form page that uses the material uploader widget.

Video capture

The video capture page lets you ask questions of applicants that they answer as a video essay.

The functionality on this page can be replaced with the video capture form widget or with AI interviews.

📖 The video essay page

Non-menu pages

Non-menu pages, or modules, are elements of the Slate-hosted application that can’t be reached from the sidebar menu in the Slate-hosted application.

Application landing page

With the part ID default, the application landing page module is the first thing the applicant sees when they reach your application.

To configure settings on the Test Scores page:

1. Go to Database → Application Editor.

2. Select the application base for which you’d like to make changes.

3. Select Test Scores.

4. Select General Settings.

Configure the following settings:

Custom title

Overrides the default landing page title, Application Management, with a custom title of your choosing.

Instructions

Adds custom instruction text below the application landing page title.

Override Help Post Authentication / Post Authentication Instructions

When you select Yes, a Post Authentication Instruction text field appears. When you enter text here, this text replaces the default Instruction text while the user is logged in.

Login Footer Instructions / Returning Applicant Instructions / First-time Applicant Instructions

Adds footer text to the login page, instruction text under the Returning users header, and instruction text under the First-time users header, respectively.

Period Selection Instructions

Adds instruction text in the Start New Application popup.

No Available Periods Message

Enter text that should appear when no periods are available to the user.

Set Application Offline

Options include Online and Offline and unavailable.

Decision page

With the part ID update, applicants arrive at the decision page when they follow the link to view their decision in a decision letter communication.

The sole configuration available in this module is Download Decision PDF, with options to Show or Hide.

Login page

The login page, represented by part ID login, appears when users select the Log In link on the application landing page.

You can customize the login page’s title, instructions, and footer text.

📖 Further reading: Application Login Page

Logout page

The logout page, represented by part ID logout, appears when users select the Logout link anywhere in the application.

You can customize the logout page’s title and add custom instructions.

Password reset page

The login page, represented by part ID reset, appears when users select the Forgot Your Password link on the login page.

You can add custom instructions to this page.

Payment pages

The four application payment pages are payment, payment_Application Fee, payment_Enrollment Deposit, and payment_Event Payment.

🔔 Important!

Making changes to these pages—even to instructional text—can break existing payment integrations. See External Payment Processors before proceeding.

There are two configuration menus available in each of these pages:

• General Settings: Here, you can add custom instructions, but beware: unless you are using Slate Payments, basic Flywire, Payflow Link, Payflow Pro, or Virtual Merchant/Elavon, do not enter instructional text. Saving your edits on any of these pages may interfere with an existing custom payment integration.

• Payment Providers: Here, you can select a payment provider. If you are actively using a payment processor not listed in the menu below, do not save your edits, as that may override your existing custom configuration. Providers not listed in the menu require custom setup.

Status page

The applicant arrives at the application status page, represented by part ID status, when they submit their application. It’s home to the applicant’s checklist.

You can customize this page in General Settings, or you can replace this page entirely with a portal.

📖 Further reading: The application status page is covered in greater detail in the Status Page section.