Re: Conditionally change color of formula numeric field, either text or background, without using a a Formula Text field.

It would be done in the same way that you outlined in your example, except that the value presented would be a Text value. To change the background, this is the example (albiet with numeric values) that I've used:

If(Round([numeric])<[numeric goal],"<div style=\"background-color:pink;width:50\">"&ToText(Round([numeric]))&"</div>",ToText(Round([numeric]))