Re: Number folder vs text folder for my purpose

When there is a toss up option, I generally favor a number folder.  But the devil is in the detail.

There are some technical differences.  Text folders are less memory efficient then number folders unless you are using EE and Slang's Extended Text folder type.  But that's usually only a minor consideration.

From the specifications you mentioned, you would have to use two number folders to indicate a page range such as the "pp. 37-43" example you gave.  With a text folder you could put that entirely in one folder.  There are a number of reasons you may want one option or the other, but it depends in part on what you plan to do with that data.  If, for example, you wanted to do math with the page numbers (unlikely in your case I think), it would be more convenient to have each number in a separate folder.  That would simplify the ability to do calculations.  That's just one consideration.  Another one that may be more important in this example is sorting.  The sorting algorithm is different for number and text folders.  So, in some cases, you should choose the folder type based on the algorithm if you need to sort.  Generally, if you are using only whole integers though, that's not a big issue either.  But the text folder may sort differently then the number folder depending on what specific data you have in each type.

In general in your case from what you wrote.  There may be a significant advantage to displaying a range of pages in one column.  The simplest way to do that is to use a text folder and have the data in that form when entered.  So, for example you could put "56-64" in the text folder named "Pages" or similar when you have a range of pages and just "56" when you have only one page.  It's not fancy, but it is simple.  One downside is that you can't sort properly by number on the pages.  If you split the begin and ending pages, you can sort by them.

If you want to get fancier, you could have the best of both worlds by using two number (or text) folders and then simply creating a third text folder with a simple rule in it to construct the string "56-64" from the content of the two number (or text) fields.  But depending on what your needs are, this may not be necessary.

Bottom line ... simplest solution is to use a text folder which will allow you to put a page range in.  Fancier and more flexible solution is to use multiple folders in which case the type generally isn't all that important.