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■ Affinity
Affinity (now own by Canva) has made its move to a freemium model with its latest Affinity 3.0 Software, released on October 31, 2025. You can download the latest version at affinity.studio. The software is completely free to use, with some pay options if users wanted to unlock extra features, such as such as A.I. editing.

I made this video because I wanted to show you (in real time), how I am compressing images and how I’m working the html code to insert into this Widowspeak article.

There are two parts to this video, the first is for Affinity and how (and why) you should use it to compress images. I show you the original file size can be reduce to more than 50% of its original size – yet looking “just as good”, despite knowing that there are some jagged and mushy colors. Still, looking at the image at a normal view, they look practically the same.

I’ve been a fan of Affinity since version 2, having paid $99 for their suite. I feel I’ve only use very basic features, but I wanted to support the company. Since they were purchased by Canva, their parent company gave away Version 3 for FREE. This powerhouse $100 software is now free, and I couldn’t believe it. If you need a photo editor, I think you’ll love it… especially for the price (free). However, it does take some learning. If you use it all the time, it should be second nature and easy to use. Download the free software at www.affinity.studio.

The second part is the custom html code. If you’re not comfortable with html codes, it may look like a blob and messy… but once you understand it or know what you’re looking for, it should be pretty easy to edit. I have a template I use all the time, and I just copy and paste and change things around.

It is much harder to type to you, so just watch the video and try to follow along. Like Affinity, if you do it enough times, it should be just second nature for you to understand how to create and add your own codes.

Also in Site Update, I’ve recently installed Slim SEO to help with automating some “Search Engine Optimization” items. One particular feature that I really like is that it automatically creates and “Alternative Text” for images. This is a feature meant for SEO, but also for the visually impaired users – who relies on descriptions of images in the alt-text. Slim SEO will add the file name as the alt-text, so now I just have to make sure my photo files are named accordingly. So far, I like Slim SEO, it’s much better than what I previously used (and uninstalled) called Yoast SEO. Yoast kept asking for money, and I just got sick of it’s bloatiness. It just wasn’t helping me. You can download Slim SEO at wpslimseo.com or go into your plugin section and search for them. I suggest making a backup of your website before you install any plugin, as it can destroy it by accident. I’ve had it happen.