Well, you've only been playing a year so no matter which route you go you're only going to get better. For tablature to get the rhythm down you just have to listen to the music and follow along. That's usually your only option with online tabs. if you are confused by the tab itself it's probably only because you can't recognize a "g chord" or "g arpeggio" right off the bat and that just comes with practice. There is a little bit of a learning curve but nowhere near that of standard notation. Also, many of the free tabs online are inaccurate and just a good guideline at best. Most books have the standard notation and tablature together which is nice because then you can see the rhythm. Of course they are much more expensive and are not error free either although they are much better. My advice is that it really depends on what your end goal is. Standard notation is the complete route and the nice thing is that it translates to all other instruments. If you want to compose your own music or work with other musicians it's definitely the better bet. I think as a guitarist (other than the classical genres) you are going to want to learn tablature too though just because of the availability alone of free tablature. If you just plan on playing in a band with other guitar players, bass and drums maybe another instrument here or there you can get away with just tablature. Definitely standard notation if you are looking to make a career in music.

I've been using Guitar Pro for years now (i think version 1) and it is the greatest song learning tool i've ever seen. it gives you the best of both worlds (standard notation and tablature). You can "play" the tablature and play along, adjust speed but not pitch etc etc. Well worth the money and if you couldn't afford it and are a true enthusiast it just might be out there on some torrent sites ;) Plus both the standard notation and tablature print out really nice!!!!