How can I render a website as an image from the shell?

TL;DR; Try wkhtmltopdf.org

Original Answer: (2011 -- before question tags added)

Check the answer to this question. It seems the same as yours: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/125951/command-line-program-to-create-website-screenshots-on-linux

If it's on Windows, check also:

• http://www.labnol.org/software/automated-screenshots-of-websites-from-command-line/4786/
• http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/web_site_screenshot.html

Updated Answer:

A few other console / terminal based tools that can convert HTML to images.

• phantomjs.org (Update: No longer maintaned)
• wkhtmltopdf.org (look for wkhtmltoimage)

They are both cross OS, free, and very popular.