> On 8 Mar 2017, at 01:04, Alan Braslau <alan.braslau@cea.fr> wrote:
> 
>  The two systems are very different, MKII being
> "frozen" and MKIV having evolved in some ways significantly. It is not
> a question of TeX engines, but rather of entire systems.
> 

ok, that makes sense.


> But it sounds like you want to be using an itemize or enumeration
> rather than a description.

well i do need the description as the items are not numbered or annotated in a sequential way.

i could use a \sym{tag} but then the available space is constant, and not variable as is when using description.

Or is there a better (simpler) way?

.F