So where do I go as a dev that sucks at frontend and doesn't want to make unnecessary mistakes like that?
1. The heuristics by Nielsen https://duckduckgo.com/?q=heuristics+using+Nielsen&t=iphone&...
2. Learn to do usability testing. Fundamentally it's the only way to know what's comprehensible for your target group in a given usage context.
Then there are the HIG human interface guidelines for platforms. There seemed to be a lot to learn from the one of Apple's the last time I checked.
That mitigates some of the damage done by unclear icons. You push the button... oops, that didn't do what I thought it did. Well, now I know, and the Undo button fixed it, so we're all good.
That's not perfect, but it does let regular users and power users coexist without separate modes. The former become the latter smoothly, without having to decide one day "OK, I don't need the screen real estate for labels, so turn them off".
In this case the Undo mode is also very imperfect: GMail has it inconsistently, and it's modal. It exists only in a toast, and not as a general Undo button in one consistent place. It's not a full stack, another thing that Raskin strongly encouraged. That indicates a significant re-think is necessary, not just tweaking the labels.
Anyway... really good book. It's not just UI tips and tricks, but a new way to think about what a UI is.
“What do I want the user to notice? Where am I trying to direct their attention? If I didn’t know what this button does, how do I find out?”
It’s like checking out what you know at the door.