After several months of ongoing testing, Google has officially launched the new desktop search results interface where the search bar header is rounded and sticks to the top. This went live Friday night, a Google spokesperson confirmed it for us at Search Engine Land.
Here is a GIF of it in action but you can try it yourself by trying any search result on Google desktop and scrolling down the page:
There is a ton of complaints, as you would imagine, in the Google Web Search Help forums. The issue is, all new threads that are related to this seem to be getting grouped into a single thread but that single thread only shows two posts for me. I know there are dozens, if not hundreds, of complaints in the forums.
Here are some upset users on Twitter:
Sticky anything -- I think that's the one design element I universally and thoroughly detest.
— Kristine Schachinger (@schachin) December 1, 2018
In any event, Google tested this for a long time - so expect this new sticky rounded header to stick around for a nice period of time.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help and Twitter.
