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New UI for Applicants is Launching!
We are thrilled to announce that the new interface for Applicants is launching this weekend. You can watch our preview video here or read about it on our tour here. After hearing feedback and answering help tickets for over a year, we had crystal clear vision on how the system needed to change. Rather than making little improvements here and there, this is an entirely new web-application built from the ground up. In addition to a more beautiful design, here are a few of those improvements:
Works great across a variety of devices.
The system is remade with HTML/CSS/JS which helps to work well across more devices, like iPads. We are also removing the requirement of Flash. While Flash is still useful for some functions like batch uploading, the system will not require it and gracefully fall back on other methods if needed.
Friendlier interface is more helpful to applicants.
The system has larger fonts, streamlined structure, no double-scrollbars, and better feedback within the system to help applicants understand exactly where they are in the process and what needs to be completed. This includes so many things, you just have to see it!
Program requirements are all displayed up front.
Applicants can preview all your instructions, questions and settings before getting started. This will help applicants better prepare their content before beginning an application.
Forms are presented in a way that is less intimidating.
Rather than listing different forms as separate steps across the top (which causes horizontal scrolling) we are moving all forms into one step. This will make it much easier for applicants to navigate various parts of the process. Further, we are adding more helpful notices for when something is incomplete.
“Linking” allows applicants use media already online.
To accommodate applicants with much larger audio/video files, they can link to media that is already online. For instance, if they have an HD YouTube video, they can simply enter the URL and their video will play within SlideRoom. Supported sites currently include YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud.
Reference letters can be reused across programs to save time.
Applicants can reuse completed reference letters if they are applying to more than one program within an organization. Opting in to this feature can streamline the process for recommenders, applicants and reviewers.
We will be posting a detailed account for all changes to the Administrator control panel over the next week on our development blog here.
If you are a prospective client looking for a demo, or an existing client with questions, contact us. For existing clients asking about anything they need to edit/change, the answer is nothing. All of your current settings will translate well. We do offer some additional features that are optional to turn on, but nothing will break under your current settings.
We will be continuing to post in depth about new features within the system, so stay tuned!
Preview of New UI for Applicants
We wanted to show everyone a preview of the new Applicant UI launching mid-May. This short video moves through the system and highlights some of the improvements. We are really proud of the clean design and fast performance (notice how little loading time is present in the video). We will continue to post helpful videos throughout the Summer which highlight different aspects of the system.
If you are an existing client when this update launches, you will not have to make any changes to your current settings. The new features you can opt into include:
- Entering longer program descriptions (programs>general settings)
- Allowing Applicants to reuse letters of reference already on file (programs>reference settings)
- Allowing Recommenders to upload a PDF or enter plain text (account>reference settings)
- Accepting links to external media located on YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud (programs>media settings).
Be an Early Adopter
This is an exciting year in regard to new development on the SlideRoom system. As a response to the feedback mentioned on our previous post, we plan to launch completely new versions of the system this year. New Applicant portals are launching in May and the new Reviewer portals by the end of 2012.
We have really been energized by working on this 3rd version of the system because it represents a technology shift we have been desiring for a while. The 1st version of SlideRoom was totally focused on portfolio review. The 2nd version grew to capture the entire application process. This 3rd version shifts away from being a flash-based application into a highly optimized web-based application with many new enhancements. This new architecture allows us to apply some lessons we've learned over the years which we were unable to implement previously.
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If your organization would like to be an early adopter of the new Applicant system, contact us today with the request. We are doing a limited release next week to help discover if any new details need to be addressed.
Here are some of the exciting new enhancements:
- Works great across mobile devices like smart-phones and iPads.
- Helpful design for displaying instructions and tips more clearly.
- Super-fast loading and transitions.
- Ability to link/embed media from external sites like YouTube and SoundCloud.
- Fully accessible for disabled users who rely on assistive technology.
- and much more …
We would love to hear what your applicants have to say and work with you to identify any rough edges. The full release will be coming out later in May.
Feedback from 2011
We are fortunate to have received such clear feedback from our clients and their applicants over the last year. When we hear consensus from multiple independent sources, we take action. Below are a few of those broadly requested items we heard throughout the year:
- Provide access to SlideRoom via mobile devices (mostly iPad) for both applicants and reviewers.
- Allow links to media already online, and have that media play within SlideRoom.
- Update various design elements: longer program descriptions, more clearly displayed instructions, consolidation of application forms, etc.
- Engineer the system to be ADA compliant for disabled users who rely on assistive technologies like screen-readers.
- and more …
In order to meet all these requests, it became clear that it would be best to completely rebuild the front-end interface for both applicants and reviewers. We began this rebuilding process several months ago and will be following up with some exciting announcements next month.
Phone Outage
We apologize that our telephone service provider has gone down today. They are aware of the problem and working to restore everything asap. In the mean time, if you are a client or applicant in need of assistance, please email support@slideroom.com or use our contact page here.
Update: The phone lines are back up. Please give us a call if your organization is still in need of assistance.
Keeping Track of Reference Letters
Collecting letters of reference is a challenging process because it waits on two different people: the applicant and the recommender. And then, keeping track of when various reference letters come in for different applicants requires additional attention. So, we have just launched two enhancements to help with this process.
1) While there was always a feature for searching applicants based on the status of their references, the control bar (displayed above) now allows staff to choose which applicants they want to view based on exactly how many references have been completed. For instance, they can display all the applicants who have "exactly 2 complete references." (Note: The last drop-down on the right always refers to the applicant's status, indicating whether their main application is submitted or not).
2) A new daily email notification summarizes which applicants have received letters from the previous day. This outlines the applicant's name, which program they are in and the name of the recommender who has just completed the letter. If you wish to have this turned on, please email support@slideroom.com and list of users who should receive this notification.
Saving Searches
When searching for a specific group of applicants, SlideRoom allows for building a complex set of conditions. But over the last year, we received many requests to be able to save these searches for two reasons. The first is just to allow easier access to that search in the future, without having to rebuild the conditions each time. The second reason is to create some unique groups of applicants for others to easily access. If you have a reviewer that does not use the system all that often, it is much easier to instruct them to choose a "Saved Search" rather than building the conditions themselves.
Here are the steps you take to save a search:
- Build your set of conditions and click "Search"
- If you like the search results, click the "Save" button, which is listed at the top along with the "refine" button.
- This will bring up a window where you can give this search a name.
Once you finish saving this search, it will be added to your list of saved searches for future use.
New Feature: Email
SlideRoom now offers the ability for administrators to email one or more applicants from within the system. Just select the applicants you wish to contact and then click "email." This will select all the unique addresses in your list of applicants (ignoring duplicates), and bring up a window where you can type your message. When you click "send", the system will send each person a separate email. This avoids the possibility of them seeing others on the list. The administrator sending the email will also be sent a confirmation/copy of the email sent for their own records.
