When pointing a outside TV antenna on the roof of the house, are the small elements the front of the antenna, or are the longer elements front of the antenna for pointing purposes, to point in the antenna in the right direction you want?? Can't afford cable any more , lost my job!!

See Which way to point a TV or FM antenna. The rest of the info on that site may be helpful too.

TV Fool - Home has a LOT of information. It might, however, be difficult to understand.

Already answered in above good post and sites.
www.Antennaweb.org is also good.
The long elements in the back are for High VHF
(7-13), smaller elements are for VHF Low and FM(2-6), Channel 6 is in the FM band.
UHF is the Yagi (the higher the frequency the smaller the Element)at the front of the antenna.
The corner reflector helps receiving of the UHF.