Based on answers to previous questions the easiest way to arrange figures on a page in a simple tabular arrangement is to use \startfloatcombination etc. and indeed works well I wanted to get a single tall figure on the left and two on the right above one another. I tried nesting i.e. \setupexternalfigures[location={default}] \definefloat[floatA][floatAs] \definefloat[floatB][floatBs] \setupcaption[floatA][number=yes,location=top] \setupcaption[floatB][number=no] \starttext \startplacefloatA[title={Using figures in nested float combinations}] \startfloatcombination[nx=2,ny=1] \startplacefigure[title={left two rows}] \externalfigure[mill][height=4in] \stopplacefigure \startplacefloatB \startfloatcombination[nx=1,ny=2] \startplacefigure[title={right top}] \externalfigure[spider][height=1.5in] \stopplacefigure \startplacefigure[title={right bot}] \externalfigure[cow][height=1.5in] \stopplacefigure \stopfloatcombination \stopplacefloatB \stopfloatcombination \stopplacefloatA \stoptext This just gave the three figures in a sort of single column down the page. Are nested floatcombinations not allowed or have I done it wrong?