You can get around the limit of 3 conditions in Excel 2003 by using a VBA macro. That provides an unlimited number of conditions.
For example, the following event handler handles 10 conditions for text entries in column A. It could easily be modified for a single cell, multiple columns, a row or rows, or the entire worksheet.
Copy this code to the clipboard:
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
Dim i, LastRow
LastRow = Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
For i = 1 To LastRow
Select Case Cells(i, "A")
Case Is = "RED", "red"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 3
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 6
Case Is = "BLUE", "blue"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 22
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 16
Case Is = "WHITE", "white"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 34
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 18
Case Is = "BROWN", "brown"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 14
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 36
Case Is = "BLACK", "black"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 52
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 46
Case Is = "GREEN", "green"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 33
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 17
Case Is = "PURPLE", "purple"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 9
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 37
Case Is = "GOLD", "gold"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 25
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 41
Case Is = "YELLOW", "yellow"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 38
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 12
Case Is = "PINK", "pink"
Cells(i, "A").Interior.ColorIndex = 19
Cells(i, "A").Font.ColorIndex = 42
Case Else
End Select
Next
End Sub
Select any worksheet and right click the sheet tab.
Select 'View Code'
Paste the code into the sheet module editing area to the right.
Close the VBE and return to the worksheet.
Enter any of the 10 'color' words in any cell in column A and the Pattern and Font color will be set by the code.
You can modify this in any manner you wish to accomplish the 'conditional formatting' you wish.