@brad
It would be cool if when I open “Insert plugin” window, the left section showed up as a tree structure.
For example, with current implementation, when I choose selection “by vendor” in the left split, click on specific vendor in the right split, and want to switch to another vendor (I use touch screen, and click on wrong items all the time), I need to click on something else first (by tags, etc.) in the left split, then click on “by vendor” there, and only then choose the vendor I want. The vendor list naturally belongs to the left split IMO, should expand when I click on “By vendor” and allow for easy navigation between them.
Being able to go up one level by clicking on .. in the right split would be cool, too.
Also, if the tree is implemented, then it would become possible to also implement the hierarchical tag structure. Tags are essentially keywords, and some industries, such as photo, have various keyword hierarchies established for use in DAM.
The same hierarchical approach works for VST as well.
For example, plugin might have tags Parametric and/or 6-band assigned manually, which would also mean it gets automatically assigned higher level tags: EQ, Tone Shaping, and Audio Effect.
If we assign Convolution, it gets higher level tags: Reverb, Time Based, and Audio Effect.
These are examples from my personal hierarchical VST category structure, where I need to assign all hierarchical levels manually.
Now, if I wanted to see all EQs, I would choose the EQ tag in the left split, and if I wanted to see only Parameteric EQs I would expand EQ, and click on Parametric tag.