The following press release was issued by Next Generation Software.

TNG version 9, a major upgrade for The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding, is now available from Next Generation Software (http://www.tngsitebuilding.com). The new release will be on sale exclusively at the RootsTech Family History and Technology Conference in Salt Lake City until Feb. 6, after which it will be available to the general public as well.

This new version includes many style upgrades for a more elegant and modern appearance, plus three new template designs. The Template Settings page has also been improved, allowing users to more easily customize the images and messages used on their sites.

Other new features include social media sharing icons, an improved timeline page, better media sorting, enhanced user rights, and the incorporation of the latest Google Maps API. Along with the new maps also comes the ability to geocode place records in bulk, and to have all new places automatically geocoded at the time of entry.

Sites running the new version should also notice a decrease in download times for most pages, due to the introduction of image sprites and the elimination of deprecated functions. For example, where before each public page was loading about 30 images for the icons used there, that number has now been reduced to only three.

About a hundred other new features, improvements and fixes are documented on the TNG web site. A 20-minute demonstration on the changes will be given at RootsTech on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 2pm in the Exhibit Hall.

TNG makes it easy to put your genealogy on your web site in dynamic fashion. Instead of forcing you to create and upload thousands of pages each time you publish your family tree, TNG uses a database to store your information and create the pages only as they’re needed. When you want to make a change, you only need to upload your GEDCOM file again, or enter the new facts directly online. TNG also allows you to link photos and other media to the people in your tree.

TNG is commercial software ($32.99 USD one-time license fee). In order to run TNG, your web site must support PHP (a programming language) and MySQL (the database). Existing users may upgrade to the latest version online for $14.99 or $16.99, depending on their currently installed version.

TNG was created in 2001 and can now be seen on more than 12,000 genealogy web sites world wide. For more information, please see http://www.tngsitebuilding.com