Newb questions about chords, please help.

So it sounds to me that you are trying to learn the chords and the tab at the same time. No doubt this is confusing. I suggest that every tune in here you want to play you first look at the little chord chart at the top right and determine if you know those chords or not. If not then you need to practice chording before you try playing and learn those chords. Use the song to give you a sense of whether or not you've learned the chords, but don't worry about the tab stuff yet.
Those letters above the words are the chords to be played, but a word of caution; many songs here are not very accurate in either the chords given or the locations of those chords throughout the song. I have spent many an hour editing songs in my own song book to fix this, so it can be a little confusing for a beginner too. You might want to consider buying song books in the series called "made easy for guitar" with songs you already know how they "should" sound. I did this with several books while I was learning and it really helps to teach you the chords. Also, get yourself a good chord chart. There's a good one in here, but being an old timer now I guess, I still like the chord chart book I bought several years ago that is slim enough to fit in the neck portion of my guitar case.
Now, after more than 20 years of practice, I know many chords and can hear when there's one or two off and can fix it, but starting out I think you might get sidetracked too much by that.
Oh, and never forget - practice, practice, practice!

Yeehaw80, at least for me a good practice tool was using a 12 bar blues progression. Start in any key, strum that progression for 2 minutes then switch to another key and repeat thru all the key's. This works for open chords as well as barre chords. Slow down or speed up the strumming as needed to get a decent sound. This not only will help with your chord changes but it will help your timing as well.  Just use a basic 3 chord progression in a 1 -4 - 5 pattern. 

nela