Formal elements are elements with a title that are often displayed with a caption: figure, table, example and equation. The $formal-object-title-placement parameter determines if the title precedes or follows the element itself.

The parameter consists of a series of tokens, “before”, “after”, or “element : position”. The named forms (e.g., figure:before) take precedence with the unnamed form serving as a default for any that don’t have named forms.