Ok actually it sounds like with % % calling, the .Inner is still bare stuff. The rendering happens somewhere after passing it. So the theory is unfortunately wrong.
Below is experiment: I just output what is passed as .Inner as printf, as verbatim and just as {{ .Inner }}.
Check that table is not rendered into HTML at all, only inline elements…
Repo: https://github.com/agronskiy/hugo-experimentation/tree/main/shortcode-rendering-order
Code:
Trying to render table markdown with various inline elements:
### With `% debuginner %`
{{% debuginner %}}
| header with **bold** reference[^1]|
|----|
|cell `with code` |
{{% /debuginner %}}
### With `< debuginner >`
{{< debuginner >}}
| header with **bold** reference[^1] |
|----|
|cell `with code` |
{{< /debuginner >}}
[^1]: test reference
And the Screenshot:
Compete confusion! 