say what you mean
The terms, defined
Not a beginner's dictionary. These are the 14 terms a retail listing uses loosely, uses two different ways on the same page, or does not use at all — and each one has changed where a piece went in a plan, or whether it went in.
Setback
Setback is the distance from the public sidewalk to the front wall of the house, measured straight back. It is the number that decides how tall a decoration can be before it stops reading as decoration and starts reading as an obstruction.
Why it matters. Almost every "it looked bigger online" complaint is a setback problem rather than a size problem. The same 12 ft inflatable that anchors a 40 ft yard swallows an 18 ft one whole. Keep the tallest piece under roughly half the setback and the yard reads correctly from the street.
Frontage
Frontage is how wide a lot is measured along the street. Together with setback it is one of the two numbers that put a yard into one of ten shapes.
Why it matters. Frontage sets how many pieces can stand side by side before they merge into one lump seen from the road. It is the constraint people skip, because a yard feels wide when you are standing in it and narrow when you are driving past it at 25 mph.
Sight triangle
A sight triangle is the area near a street intersection that most United States municipalities require to be kept clear so drivers can see through the corner. It typically caps anything standing in that zone at around 3 ft tall, and the exact dimensions vary by city ordinance.
Why it matters. It applies to every corner lot, it is enforceable, and it governs the single most-seen square foot of yard somebody owns. Finding out after buying the tall piece is an expensive way to learn it.
Viewing angle
A viewing angle is one of the directions a display is actually seen from: the sidewalk directly in front, each direction of passing traffic, and the approach up the front walk. A yard has several and they do not agree with each other.
Why it matters. A piece that is perfect head-on can disappear edge-on, which is what makes flat one-sided props a poor buy on a corner lot and a fine one on a deep narrow lot where everybody sees the same face.
Lit length
Lit length is the portion of a light set that actually emits light, as distinct from the total length printed on the packaging, which includes the unlit lead cable between the plug and the first bulb.
Why it matters. A set advertised at 65 ft is commonly 33 ft of lit run plus lead. Buying roofline by the packaged number is how a house ends up two-thirds outlined. Every coverage figure on this site is lit length only.
Covered outdoor
Covered outdoor is a manufacturer rating meaning a piece is warranted for use outside only when it is under a roof, such as on a porch or in a deep entry alcove. It is the usual rating for animatronics, whose motor housings are unsealed and whose costumes are cloth.
Why it matters. It is a warranty and safety term rather than a preference, and retail listings bury it in the specification table or leave it out. A covered-rated prop placed on open ground is one wet night from being scrap, and the manufacturer is entitled to decline the claim.
All-weather
All-weather is a manufacturer rating meaning a piece is warranted to stand on open ground for a full season, through rain and cold, with no shelter. Listings often phrase it as "weather resistant".
Why it matters. It is the rating that decides whether a piece can take the centre of a lawn at all. On this site a product with no stated rating is treated as all-weather only when it is plainly non-electrical; silence on a cloth-and-motor prop is read as covered, because a guide cannot claim a rating the manufacturer would not.
Continuous draw
Continuous draw describes a decoration that pulls current the entire time it is switched on, rather than intermittently. Anything with a blower is a continuous draw, because the blower never stops.
Why it matters. It is what fills a circuit. Four inflatables at roughly 1.2 amps each, all night, is most of the 12 amp working limit of a 15 amp household circuit before a single light goes up. People budget amps as though the load were occasional, and then the breaker goes at nine in the evening.
Listed height
Listed height is the height a retailer publishes for a decoration, measured fully inflated or fully assembled, at the tallest point of the piece. For an inflatable that point is usually a hat, an ear or a raised arm rather than the body.
Why it matters. It is why a 12 ft inflatable looks shorter than 12 ft in a yard: a third of the number can be a pointed hat that reads as nothing from the street. Listed width is frequently the more useful figure, and inflatables are commonly wider than they are tall.
Slot
A slot is one marked position in a yard plan, carrying a fixed location, a maximum height and a role. A lot shape has six or more of them, and a plan is the result of filling them.
Why it matters. Slots are what make a plan portable between themes. A piece is never chosen and then placed; a position exists first, with its own constraints, and only something that physically fits it can go there.
Role
A role is the job a slot does in a display: the focal centrepiece, a flanking pair framing the walk, path lighting, a low corner accent, a roofline run, or a secondary scene. Themes declare which roles each of their pieces can fill.
Why it matters. It is the indirection that lets one theme definition serve all ten lot shapes. A focal piece is a focal piece whether it lands in a corner lot or a split-level, so nothing has to be rewritten per shape.
Sheltered slot
A sheltered slot is a position in a yard plan that sits under a roof, such as on a porch or in a recessed entry. It is the only kind of position a covered-rated piece is allowed to occupy.
Why it matters. It is what makes the good animatronics usable. The alternative was refusing to list anything not rated for open ground, which quietly threw away most of the animatronics worth owning over a placement problem that nine of the ten shapes can already solve.
Budget ceiling
A budget ceiling is the hard upper limit on the total cost of a plan at one of four tiers: $250, $500, $1,000 and $2,500. A plan that totals over its ceiling is a build error rather than a warning.
Why it matters. It is what stops "a $500 yard" from quietly becoming a $560 yard. When a verified price breaks a ceiling the item moves up a tier; the ceiling does not move.
Footprint
Footprint is the ground area a decoration occupies, taken from its listed width and depth rather than its height. A plan checks footprint against the space around a slot before anything is placed there.
Why it matters. Height is the number everybody shops on and footprint is the number that decides whether two pieces collide, whether the walk stays clear, and whether a piece ends up standing on the driveway.
where these come from
Every one of them is in the data
Weather rating, lit length, continuous draw and listed height are not commentary — they are columns, recorded per product, and published as a file anybody can download and check.