In this letter, a new alternative configuration of slotted radiating elements in substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) is proposed. It yields a greater control over the transmission phase of the slotted waveguide section. This allows a precise conception of traveling-wave slot antennas in SIW, including those with a high width-to-height ratio. Altering the phase by internal measures, instead of displacing slots, is revealed to be very suitable in achieving a good side lobe performance and a broadside beam with less computation effort. For this sake, multiple vias are inserted sophistically in all elements while upholding low reflection and unaffected radiation. A simplified yet bidirectional signal flow graph completes the straightforward approach. Validation is carried out first by comparing slot amplitudes of three different arrays, designed through different procedures, with ideal desired values. Second, fabricated and simulated circuits are evaluated in terms of reflection and radiation performance. The good results demonstrate that this new alternative way to configure a slot antenna in traveling-wave architecture is a very good candidate in particular for low-effort applications. A MATLAB test script is provided for further validation and design. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:1303-1307, 2014