Rules applied to multiple cells trigger color changes when any of the cells

Question

"Rules applied to multiple cells trigger color changes when any of the cells meet the rule’s condition." That's what Help says, but when I follow the directions, it doesn't work. This is in Numbers 08.
I have a table where the contents of one column are either "YES" or "NO", depending on formulas using variables from other cells. If YES, I want the fill of that cell and that of two adjacent cells to change from white to green. I select all three cells and use conditional format rules for "text contains:" YES, then choose my fill color. When I return to the table and introduce values for the variables that trigger the rule, only the cell in the YES/NO column changes to green; the other two remain white.
While I am spreadsheet challenged, I usually can follow directions as plain as those in Help, but it's not working. I couldn't find anything in the discussions after an hour of searching. Is this a known problem or am I just stupid?

Answer 1

For what it's worth, that's the way I read that line in the User Guide as well. What it actually appears to mean, though is 'Rules applied to multiple cells apply independently to each of the cells."
Here's a workaround for your three adjacent columns. Long, but fairly simple steps.
Add a second table to the sheet (Table 2).
Resize the second table to one column wide and as many rows as you want to apply the conditional format to.
Set the width of the column to the same width as the three columns you want to highlight, and the row height(s) to match the rows.
Format to table to have NO Header or Footer row or column.
Use the Wrap Inspector to uncheck "Object causes wrap"
In the first top cell of Table 2, enter an = sign, then Click on Table 1 in the sidebar, Click on the first cell that will hold YES or NO.
Fill the formula down the rest of Table 2.
With all cells in Table 2 selected, use the Cell Format inspector to set the 'text contains yes' rule and the conditional fill colour for these cells.
Test the conditional formating by introducing values into Table 1.
Click on Table 1 in the sidebar, then use the Table inspector to set Cell Fill to 'none'.
Click on Table 2 in the sidebar, then drag that table onto table 1 aligning it to cover the cells in which the conditional formating is to appear.
When positioned (and still selected), go to the Arrange menu and Send Backward to move Table 2 behind the (transparent) cells in Table 1.
With Table 2 still selected, click on the Cell Borders color well and set the Opacity of the borders to 0%.
Click the Text inspector and set the Text colour Opacity for Table 2 to 0%.
Regards,
Barry