It's not the just colour that's the problem, it's the position of the picture, as you can see from the tiny scrollbar at the side
I put mine just below this line in definition 1001:
xml code:
<BuddyList id=atom(abView) Layout=FillLayout() CmdGroup=guid("{16E32D35-5350-4805-B7F0-5E782510AF6F}")/>
and it shows behind the text, rather than in line with it.