@unknownuser said:
there's another way to do this that i've seen a few people around here using (myself included).. is to put the plugins folder in the finder sidebar..
I considered doing that too, but my Sidebar is already pretty full of things I need to access much more often than the Plugins folder so I opted for the alias approach for items like that instead. Otherwise, I would probably end up having to scroll through the Sidebar as often as the file list itself!
Either way, I would opt for moving the unzipped folder contents into the Plugins folder instead of copying & pasting them there to avoid wasting disk space on redundant copies in the Downloads folder & cluttering up file search results with all the extra copies. Retaining just the compact, zipped file in case I need to reinstall the plugin saves a little space & is slightly more resistant to mishaps like accidentally renaming or moving one of its component files out of its proper place in the folder hierarchy.