Ligature with space not getting added to kerning group

Glyphs
1

Untitled-1.jpg1639×1073 119 KB

I’m trying to create a ligature that has a space in it, so “space” + " l" - so I can style the “l” differently.

I added the glyph called space_l and changed its name to space_l.liga and glyphs generates the feature just fine.

Trouble is the kerning. I don’t think it’s getting added to kerning groups. I’ve set left to “space” and right to “l” but it’s not doing it properly. I can’t see it in the kerning window in any groups.

I’ve added a screenshot to show what I mean. Any suggestions to how I can fix this?

Screenshot shows “li” with no space (thats fine) and with space (wrong kerning) Tried compressing the kerning, still not working.

2

it isn’t a good idea to add a space key to a ligature. Because direct substitutions with space do not work reliable. And what should happen if the l is in the beginning of a line?

Please check this tutorial to see how it can be done: https://www.glyphsapp.com/tutorials/features-part-4-positional-alternates

3

Wow that’s just blown my mind, I did not know about

.init: initial forms at the beginning of a word
.medi: medial forms in the middle of a word
.fina: final forms at the end of a word
.isol: isolated forms for when a letter stands all by itself

Many thanks
Simon