Trying to grab a component from the endless list of components adds a lot of friction. I would like to see the list of components reduced to something like this:
Category headings > Family icons > Types as dropdowns.
Additionally, I don't think it's that important that you have access to every single type of every loaded family from one god list. I'd rather pick a family from a list of just families, and then select the type after it's placed, or during the placement step.
If the list was organized into family icons, a rectangular array of families could easily show 100 or so loaded families in a panel without having to scroll, and it would be visually easy to navigate, especially if they are separated by component categories. Most Asset Managers in other software recognize this as a best practice, and for good reason. It's very fast and provides the least friction to the user looking for a particular item in a very large set.
I would personally prefer a context window that can spread across the screen until an item is selected, allowing me to immediately pick the component and get on with work.
As a quick fix, just incorporate minimizing the types from the list to expandable panels. This could reduce the scrolling by 80% or so, assuming an average of 4 types per family.
