There is an extremely interesting discussion in the "show tanks and biotopes" section entitled "planted vs. barebottom tanks". I'm also relatively new to discus keeping and when I set up my 40 gallon breeder, I made it a planted tank because all of my books on discus said I should and because I thought that it was the "natural" thing to do.
This was, however, before I discovered simplydiscus.com. I've since real a lot of info on this site about the benefits of a bare bottom tank... I thought that a bare bottom tank would be quite stark and visually unappealing until I visited Jeff's Discus a discus breeder in Chicago Ridge, IL. His tanks were all barebottom, but he accented the some of the tanks with plastic plastic plants, driftwood and creative backgrounds and they were beautiful!!! There are some photos of his shop on this website. (I can't remember exactly where :-[, but I'm sure that the pictures are easy to find.)
I have been basically happy with my planted discus tank.(As with all things, though, there have been some drawbacks.)
You should definitely check out the "showtanks and biotopes" section and look for the discussion on "Jeff's Discus" and then decide what is best for you.
Tyra