it would be great if Vertex Groups could be put into folders / collections, and then normalization etc. could be applied per folder / collection.
Yes, please.
Attributes/vertex groups/shape keys desperately need some kind of file system rather than a flat list.
Before I learned Python, I tried to rig a hair mesh from an asset store, and the number of vertex groups required made it the biggest PITA ever.
Now I’m working on an importer and I use attributes to cache data that doesn’t exist natively in Blender. And I hate the fact that they exist in a flat list with native Blender attributes. And you know when vertex groups and shape keys become attributes too, it’s going to be so much worse.
Please, reach out to the UI team and make this a priority.