[hogarth]

This hack doesn't have to be a code hack, look at the Instant Messaging Templates -> im_aim template. I used the example images AdmiralB provided.

<a href="#" onclick="return imwindow('aim', '$userinfo[userid]', 400, 200)"><img src="http://big.oscar.aol.com/$userinfo[aim]?on_url=http://www.yourserver.com/images/im_aim_on.gif&amp;off_url=http://www.yourserver.com/images/im_aim_off.gif" width="16" height="16" alt="<phrase 1="$userinfo[username]">$vbphrase[send_message_via_aim_to_x]</phrase>" border="0" /></a>

Yahoo's online indicator unfortunetly is a bit smaller than AIM's, so I won't be using it because it won't match the size of the other chat protocol indicators. But, that too is in the Instant Messaging Templates -> im_yahoo template:

<a href="#" onclick="return imwindow('yahoo', '$userinfo[userid]', 400, 200)"><img src="http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u=$userinfo[yahoo]&amp;m=g&amp;t=3" alt="<phrase 1="$userinfo[username]">$vbphrase[send_message_via_yahoo_to_x]</phrase>" border="0" /></a>

The "t" argument in the URL to Yahoo can be changed from 1 to 3 to get a different indicator.

Still looking into MSN.