Grades of confirm actions

I am currently working on a standard for confirming destructive actions, which I have to split into four levels:

  1. no confirmation necessary
  2. ???
  3. a simple dialog that explains what the dangers are
  4. a dialog that explains the dangers and requires an unusual action to confirm.

Now, level 2 should be more intrusive than level 1, but less than level 3 and it needs to work with touch as well as with mouse and keyboard.

I already implemented an undo function, that's why level 1 exists at all, but my supervisor wants something even more secure.

What are some good patterns to do this?

  • Double click is annoying and will lead to spam clicking
  • Long press takes too long and is unconventional on desktop
  • Having a flyout is a middle ground, as it doesn't excel or suck at any specific thing