Formatting a range based on contents of column/row heading

[Chris]

This is a challenging task (for some). I would like to format a
spreadsheet based on the column heading (date) and the row heading
(task end date). In each of the cells there is the estimated work
effort. I would like to black out the cells in a row past the
project's end date.

Example
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

End
Day 2 Norm Norm Black out

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

You could do this with conditional formatting under the format menu

Assume the first "norm" is in B2

Select B2:E5 or E to whatever row

with B2 as the active Cell

Then do format=>Conditional Format

in the dialog, first dropdown, change Cell Value Is to Formula Is

then enter
=And(B$1<>"",$A2<>"",B$1>$A2)

then click the format button and select pattern tab, select black

then OK your way out. This assumes your Day1 and so forth will actually
contain real dates or numbers.