[runarberg]

Iconography is both art and science, just like typography, and works hand in hand with usability. The right icon in the right context will convey its meaning to the users, if it doesn’t then it is not the right icon or the context is missing (or both). What makes the right icon has to do with both universality and internal consistency, but neither is required.

Universally consistent icons only exist in rare cases, most of the time it is because a certain industry sits down and agrees on a standard (the power buttons are a good example; or the radioactivity and bio-hazard symbols), so inconsistent icons across the web is simply a reality that we have to live with as web designers. This makes our work both harder, but also more interesting.

I think you made the right choice removing the icon with text. Sometimes there is no icon which fits the context to provide meaning to it. In those cases, text is the correct choice.