After some thinking, I believe creating a [[Special:RandomChapter]] will be better than the current use of magic words {{RANDOMCHAPTER}}:

• Using a variable, the HTML of a page couldn't be cached (I think), since there would be random content in the pages.
• The variable will most likely be used to create links and there is no point in displaying the target page name in the status bar before the user clicks on the link. The href should not reveal what the target page is before the user clicks on the link. This can be seen currently on "Random chapter" link on "Tools of book" section of sidebar.
  • Besides, if the random chapter happens to be the exactly the current chapter, the link will do nothing (and will be just occupying space in the sidebar).

If a link such as [[Special:RandomChapter]] is added to a book, the special page would choose a random page of that book. If instead the link has the form [[Special:RandomChapter/The book name]], the target will be some chapter of "The book name". And if a link [[Special:RandomChapter]] is created outside of a book, it would just point to the special page, where the user could insert the book name in a text field and press [Go].

The same problems would likely happens with a {{RANDOMBOOK}} magic word, so I'll reuse bug 28014 to request a [[Special:RandomBook]] page.

Version: unspecified
Severity: normal