> If a figure is close to the cross-reference, why have a cross-reference at 
> all?

For a number of reasons, in my case.

1. In my documents, figures generally have more than one cross-reference. Being 
consistent with the "close" cross-references working the "same way" as farther 
ones when clicked on (in the typical PDF's I generate), is better than making 
assumptions about any text being "close enough" to _not_ need a cross-reference.

2. If there is only one cross-reference initially, and it is near to the 
figure, I still choose to be consistent - later revisions to the document may 
add cross-references in other locations.

3. The figure caption may get edited. With cross-references that include the 
caption (my rule: the first occurrence of the reference to a figure has the 
caption), that changed caption text is reflected in the body text referring to 
it.

4. With my PDF's, sometimes the figure ends up on a different page than the 
text referring to it - this may be unavoidable with larger figures.

5. When text before the cross-reference or figure is added later and/or edited, 
the separation of figure and cross-reference can occur easily and may waste 
time going back and fixing missing ones.

Bottom line: As far as I am concerned, a cross-reference in body text that 
refers to a figure is a requirement, no matter where the text is in 
relationship to the figure.

Z

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