There are plenty of mods which steer the game from how the devs imagined it's meant to be played.
Than, there are other mods which fix some game flaws and make the game feel better. Sometimes, the line is blurry.

The Snap Points mod allows for placing any block's snap point onto any of another block's. That allows for building on sides you can't even see and is definitely not how the devs intended it. But without it, it can be very difficult or time consuming to make some placements that are right in front of you and that also is most definitely not how they intended it.

Building UI is made to be as simple as possible. This is to not overwhelm players who are not interested in building. This is also why the building UI most likely won't change. But builders suffer because of this. And this is why I don't feel guilty at all despite playing with several mods.

Edit: A toggle in settings for Advanced Building UI would be nice.