Just had another thought, in defense of also having on "online" version of the manual.
The problem with PDFs is that while they are indexable and searchable, there's no easy way to link to specific parts of the manual when you want to convey information to someone. You just have to tell someone "search for 'xyz' in the manual", or even just make a screenshot of the PDF, like a bloody caveman.
BorisFX
does this for Mocha Pro, and I always refer to that first, instead of the PDF manual.
Having an online version of the manual would help make it easier to point forum posters to specific parts of the manual online, rather than telling them to load up a 3016 page PDF manual and expect them to be able to easily find the information they need quickly (SPOILER: They won't be able to, simply because there's so much keyword noise in the manual due to the different modules in Resolve).
An online version of the manual would also ensure that the reference manual is always updated (theoretically)
Of course, I do think that continuing to have an offline PDF reference manual is also important, but I feel that more people would use the online version by default, simply because it's much less intimidating and easier to use than loading up a gigantic, monolithic PDF manual. About the only time I would ever use the PDF is if I'm on an airplane, or a situation where I don't/can't have internet access, which are legitimate concerns for people who work in corporations or large Hollywood-level studios, but there's no reason why you couldn't have both, assuming the manual is being written in a proper documentation authoring tool.
Resolve Studio 18.0.2 / Decklink Mini Monitor / 14" 2021 Macbook Pro Max (macOS 12.5.1, M1 Max) / 32GB RAM