I recommend first installing something like Virtual Box on Windows than google which linux distros are most popular, most maintained and has a good documentation and community to help you when you are stuck. Than pick 3-5 from best once and install them on your Virtual Box and play with each. Than based on your personal experience choose one that works best for you. After that you can install it as dual boot or as your main os.
When you just starting in linux and thinking of switching this can be a good thing. I think its better for users to choose and learn on there own instead of recommending them specific distro.
I'm not saying choosing based on the desktop environment is a bad thing. I'm just saying that it's better to recommend something like Fedora and let people choose a spin instead. The desktop environment is a lot more important when starting out. The user can then decide to switch to a different distro after having gained a bit more experience / knowledge about the inner workings of Linux distributions.