Newbie trying to find the right theme

Hello.

I’m Dawn. I’m incredibly new to all this web design stuff and have been told numerous times that the best way to learn is through creating a site using WordPress. ??

Before I ask about themes….is there a “newbie” forum for WordPress? I Googled everywhere and couldn’t find anything. And these forums don’t have a newbie section either (that I could find).

Now….how do you figure out what features you want in a theme…and even what’s the WordPress terminology for those parts of the theme? I have an idea about what I want the website to look like but can’t seem to figure out how to put that into WP terminology.

And is there a WordPress Theme Search Engine on the Internet? I know there’s one in .org but I can’t seem to find the specific characteristics I’m looking for in a theme.

If anyone wants to know more about what the website design I’m looking to create, please contact me personally.

Thanks! I really look forward to learning from all of you.

Dawn