[radley]

This kind of problem was solved almost two decades ago:

1 - use the correct dialog button layout: cancel on the left, confirm on the right. always.

2 - default to the cancel button - highlight / color it & attach to the enter key

3. show an alert icon - something obvious, don't just show plain text

4. if it's really serious, allow undo / history

[CharlesW]

Better: Allow undo/history even if it's unserious.

[erik14th]

Is there any reason that concept is so rarely used in the web? Well, there's usually an undo functionality in desktop-like web apps but most CRUD lack that kind of feature.

[danellis]

Because people don't know they want it, so it's easy to not bother implementing it knowing no one will ask for it.