This sort of fake-loader animated GIF is pretty common; it's just a slightly more advanced version of a spinner GIF. I don't think it's really that bad.
What would be bad is if this page would accept a parameter to redirect you to somewhere, but it appears it doesn't do that -- it just closes itself. Presumably this page appears in an overlay that then closes itself.
With most of the spinner gifs I use, the gif will just be in the element that I put the dynamic content into. Then when I load the content into the element, the gif is replaced and disappears.
It's not "bad" in the sense of actually hurting people, but it is dishonest... it's a meaningless progress bar (not so terrible, Windows has us used to these), but the series of lies flitting on and off the page definitely isn't good.
We all know banks aren't trustworthy, but that's what they should be, and their goal should be actual trustworthiness and not false, theatrical crap like this.
Or false, theatrical crap like building themselves massive stone buildings more suited for courthouses than branches and decking their interiors out with dark wood and brass?
Banks are all about theatrics in the service of image. They depend upon it, in fact. A bank that loses trust is a bank in danger of a run.
That's just another way to state my point. Depending on theatricality instead of actually EARNING trust is exactly the wrong way to approach such a goal.
How is it dishonest? I would consider it a theatrical demonstration of what's actually happening.
The steps of the gif are:
-Establishing secure connection
-Sending Credentials
-Authenticating
-Building Secure Environment
That's not too far off of layman's terms of what is happening when they logon albeit just not as slow.
If it provides a layperson the same sense of trust that a technical person would feel if they listed the technical terms, isn't this an accurate demonstration?
What would be bad is if this page would accept a parameter to redirect you to somewhere, but it appears it doesn't do that -- it just closes itself. Presumably this page appears in an overlay that then closes itself.