Being able to resize the gradient editor, specifically horizontally, increases the accuracy of color node placement.
That’s all. Thanks. Be well. (or else)
EDIT: Perhaps also being able to set transparency per color node? That’s always a fun option that can achieve some darn cool effects.
Good idea on the resize.
There’s a separate Alpha (transparency) gradient, so we won’t add transparency to the color nodes. It might be a lot more useful if both gradients were in the same editor though.
I also want to add to this idea and also suggest having more gradient options like linear, radial etc, just to give more creative options 
The gradient defines the color of the particle over its life, so I’m not sure what “radial” would mean? (The gradient is not applied to the particle spatially, just temporally).