if you've got your own website and wish to communication "realtime" with visitors to your site then the Yahoo Messenger Status Indicator is a great start.. Yahoo! have provided a quick tutorial on it at [Adding Online Presence To Your Web Pages] but some of you have asked for this to be explained a in a little more detail so here it goes...

Here's the std code that Yahoo! provides...
<a href="http://edit.yahoo.com/config/send_webmesg?.target=YOUR YAHOO! ID&.src=pg">
<img border=0 src="http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u=YOUR YAHOO! ID&m=g&t=2"></a>

what this does is insert the following offline/online status indicators onto your website page..

you don't have to download any pictures.. simply copy and paste the code straight to the required position on your web page then change YOUR YAHOO! ID to your own ID.

Breaking it down...

The first part of the code...

<a href="http://edit.yahoo.com/config/send_webmesg?.target=YOUR YAHOO! ID&.src=pg">

This is what allows vistors to your site to communicate directly with you.. they need to have a Yahoo ID but not necessarily be logged into Messenger. When they click on your status graphic they're taken off site to the std login page where they'll be prompted to enter their Yahoo ID and Password.. if they're already logged into Messenger then the Yahoo ID should already be filled in. One they sign on/confirm their identity they're automatcially transported to "Send and Instant Message".. which is shown in the code above, that being..
http://edit.yahoo.com/config/send_webmesg

now if they've Signed in with their Default ID (as most of us do) then they can select the appropriate ID by hitting the down arrow at the From: field. The screen is pretty self explainitory really.. much the same a sending a message directly from messenger.. now if they don't have Messenger installed on the computer they're sending from they have the option of checking Launch Java Messenger for replies this loads the lite version which enables you to talk back to them.. very cool if your surfing at work ;-)

From this page they can also add you to their friends list and check out your profile and download the full version of Yahoo Messenger if they don't already have it.. a one stop shop for communicating with you..

The Second...
<img border=0 src="http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u=YOUR YAHOO! ID&m=g&t=2"></a>
This is the code that locates the status graphics and why you don't need to download them, or rather upload them to your own directory. img is what tells you that its a graphic (image) and the boarder is set to 0 by default.. if you'd like a larger one simply increase the number. If once you've uploaded the web page and the graphic is not being displaid then it's this part of the code that you need to double check. Make sure your ID is correct and that have not deleted any of the surrounding text.. specifically u=YOUR YAHOO! ID&m=g this is the most common problem that most of you write to us about.. you get a little carried away when you delete YOUR YAHOO! ID and take out either some or all of the text either side :-)


The Graphics...
If you have a Yahoo/Geocities home page then you're provided with a couple of different sized graphics to choose from..

Small...

<a href="http://edit.yahoo.com/config/send_webmesg?.target=YOUR_ID&.src=pg">
<img border=0 src="http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u=YOUR_ID&m=g&t=0"></a>

Medium...

<a href="http://edit.yahoo.com/config/send_webmesg?.target=YOUR_ID&.src=pg">
<img border=0 src="http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u=YOUR_ID&m=g&t=1"></a>

Large...

<a href="http://edit.yahoo.com/config/send_webmesg?.target=YOUR_ID&.src=pg">
<img border=0 src="http://opi.yahoo.com/online?u=YOUR_ID&m=g&t=2"></a>

The position of your status indicator on your page will decide what size best suits so have a play around with the codes.. they are identical apart from the area which we've highlighed red.. so when your playing around with the different sizes simply change this number rather then copy and paste the entire code again.

I think that just about covers it.... if you have any questions that haven't been covered please feel free to drop us a line :-)