Resizing images

[handrawn]

can't speak for CC, but when i squish i do it on the fly until it 'looks right' by just moving the one handle; anything more complicated is not going to cut it

[Chris M]

My take:
Smart Transform on, nothing changed from Xara's default settings, version 23.8, using browj2's mode /mode2.

Single click the image until Mode 1 is achieved
Drag side, or top/bottom handles to crop
Drag side, or top/bottom handles + ALT to squash

99% of the time I use the crop method to preserve ratios, and use the Push Photo Inside Frame handle to position it.