Is the \strutht really needed in the first line of \page_sides_check_floats_set macro (in page-sid.mkvi)? In my opinion, the output looks better when you change the definition to: \unexpanded\def\page_sides_check_floats_set {\scratchdimen\dimexpr\d_page_sides_progress-\roundingeps\relax ....} The current setting gives odd results if you change the fontsize of the caption. Minimal example: (try with and without the above change) \setupexternalfigures[location={local,global,default}] \let\vbox\ruledvbox \starttext \startplacefigure [ title={A short caption}, location={left, nonumber,high}, ] \externalfigure[cow][height=4.2\lineheight] \stopplacefigure \input knuth \stoptext Thanks, Aditya