How to change cell color in adjacent cell

[Shelly9633]

I need to change the cell color in an adjacent cell, if my target cell contains text. The target cell will actually reference a cell in another worksheet, so if the target cell then contains text, I want the cell to the left to have a yellow fill. I am not a programmer, so make it super simple if possible. If doing it as text would be too hard, I could format the column as a date, and say something like, IF(a2>05/01/2011,..... whatever would be easier.

 

[VoG]

Take a look at Conditional Formatting http://www.contextures.com/xlCondFormat02.html

 

[Shelly9633]

I've tried that several times, but can't seem to make it work.