Good questions,
1) Occasionally, whole manuscripts were written in runes, such as the Codex Runicus, a 202 page document of Skåneland law.   I believe not in a significant way. while I am sure some still write in runes, it is more of a hobby than their "regular" writing system.  

2) I learned the names and meanings from the Icelandic Rune poem. Runic scholar Johannes Bureus wrote a very short book on runes using his own 15 rune Fuþark, it is slightly different than the younger Fuþark, but very much the same as well. 

3) As I understand it, in the Younger Fuþark, Yr is used for final R in a word, such as in your name "AustmaðR," and Reið is used for "rs" in other circumstances.
However, when using the medieval Fuþark, Yr represents Y.

4) Dotted runes signify variants of sound, for instance, G is a form of K or hard C, B is a form of P, phonetically. 

5) You could learn the Medieval Fuþark, as it has more runes and, consequently, would be easier to write Old Norse or modern languages.  On Proto-Norse, I would say spend your time learning Old Norse, or a modern derivative, such as Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or Icelandic. I think that would help you with learning Old Norse.

6) It depends on the sound. For Is it is like the "ee" in "keep," for ār, the sound "ah." 

I hope this helps you in some way.
Josh

On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 12:31 AM, Ljóma <ljoma.austmadr@...> wrote:
 

Some questions regarding Younger Fuþark runes (unless otherwise noted)

1) Are runes still used to write inscriptions, or are they only transcripted to latin characters, (A.K.A. is there any use for learning them?)

2) Where might I learn to read/write runes?

3) What is the difference between ýr and reið runes? I know there is some difference in pronunciation, but does that exist in old icelandic? there is only one character for it. (Also where would I put it if I were writing an inscription?)

4) Dotted runes. What do they signify and when would I use them if I were writing an inscription?

5) Is there use in learning other Fuþark systems, can one learn (Do people even know?) Proto-Norse (What I assume Elder Fuþark is for)

6) For 'e' when would I put iss, and when ár? I see they can both represent the sound.

Thanks for all the help,
Ljóma Austmaðr