Mozilla’s Firefox 4 has simpler design; more user privacy controls

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Firefox 4 has simpler design; more privacy control

NEW YORK — A new version of the popular Firefox browser will come before the end of the year. Firefox 4 will pare down the browser’s menus and certain user options while giving Web surfers more control over what information websites get about them.

Mozilla, the browser’s creator, says Firefox 4 will allow users to better “control your relationships with websites” by giving out clearer explanations on what information sites are gathering. Users will have more opportunity to disable the collection of Web surfing habits if they feel it’s intrusive.

But Mozilla will also remove some user controls to make the browser sleeker.

Firefox’s director of development, Mike Beltzner, said designers will “have to do the uncomfortable thing and take away these user controls.” Beltzner says those changes will make Firefox faster.